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TAventieth 
C e n t u r y 
M u s i n gf s 

Being Things 
Thought Out 

By 
M. Clay Burbridge 



Done Into a Book by The Roy- 
crofters, at Their Shop, which is 
in East Aurora, Erie County, 
New York, April, mcmxiii. 






Copyright, 1913 

By 

M. Clay Burbridge 



^ 



A C\ f\ Ck 



TO MY 
COLONIAL GRANDFATHER 

Captain iWplesi ^tanbisif) 

AS A TRIBUTE TO HIS HEROIC SERVICE 

AND UNSELFISH DEVOTION TO 

THE CAUSE OF 

LIBERTY 

M. C. B. 

His Granddaughter of 
THE Ninth Generation 



FOREWORD 

Mlfc^HERE is just one objection to this book, 
# C\ and that is the title. 

^^^^ Twentieth' Century Musings is hardly 
appropriate. It should have been ** Twenty- 
Second/' or *' Twenty-Fifth Century Musings." ^^ 
The author of this book is ahead of her time. She is 
an exceptional thinker, and does not represent this 
century, but all centuries. What this woman knows 
now, may be known to all, two hundred years from 
now. 

Truth is immortal. It is classic; and the classic is 
the thing that never grows old. 
Here we find portable wisdom, nuggets of fact and 
sentiment fused. 

The proverb, the epigram, the orphic saying, have 
come down to us from the days of Solomon. 
Socrates made the world vastly his debtor by such 
homely commonsense sayings as this : ** Do too 
much for a boy and he will never do much for 
himself." 

Here is a sentiment that Plato puts into the mouth 
of Socrates, with the youth Alcibiades in mind. It 
is one of the things eternally true that has to be 
reiterated, restated, emphasized again and again. 
<L No thinking person can read these Musings 
without finding his own ideas here reflected. 
My good friend, M. Clay Burbridge, says the things 
that we would all say — if we had the mind. 
When we read them we say, ** Yes, yes ; that is 
what I always held." And there comes to us the 
dictum of Ralph Waldo Emerson, " Speak your 



thoughts today, for tomorrow you shall take them 
from another at secondhand." 

The genius is the individual who catches the 
electric spark as it flashes through his mind, and 
transforms it into words. 

Man is the instrument of deity. He is a divine 
transformer. And the great desire of Nature seems 
to be to evolve an individual who can express her 
meanings to the many. 

This book is a mine of treasures to which literary 
workers and thinkers will be beholden. 
Such proverbs as you will find here were never 
written ofiliand. 

Thoughts like these come at unexpected times and 
places ; and the author is the person who has the 
skill to seize and fix into simple words these eternal 
truths which enlarge and benefit and uplift our lives. 

—ELBERT HUBBARD 




BOOK ONE 



Twentieth Century Musings 



^^f^^^^..^^;^ 




^^ 



|HE creation of beauty is every one's 
privilege. None are too rich, none 
are too poor, and to neglect it is 
perpetual loss. Forget not that in 
the glare of wealth and in the stress 
of poverty words fitly chosen add 
beauty to daily life. The ear should 
be served as artistically as the eye. 



It is agreeable to hear priests affirm that the age of 
miracles is past and it would be more pleasing to have 
them acknowledge that it never was. 

3 
Let the wicked world sneer as it will, it adores virtue. 

4 
The presence of deceit is made manifest by its undue 
attention to intended prey. 

5 
A laudable course to pursue in regard to scandal i 
Hear if you must, but be not heard. 

6 
Crossness, however bedecked, is grossness still. 

7 
Hunger oftener leadeth a man from temptation than 
toward it, for it turneth him to industry. 

8 
Violent words fall far short when hurled at peace. 



The thought that takes deep root in the mind usually 
flowers abundantly. 



10 
^^E^HE hills and the vales lying between youth and 
^ J old age appear interminable when advancing; 
^^^ but when looking backward, age glances from 
summit to summit, and the way seems but a day's 
journey. 

11 
Though a cheat don the garb of honesty, it can not 
be made to fit him. 

12 

Directness is the child of sincerity. 

13 
When the mind flies high, the body can not remain 
in the mire. 

14 
Fortune will come to those who plead with persis- 
tency. 

15 
Any one who desires to be good can be — God's door 
is never closed against the vilest. 

16 

The eye of the soul may penetrate the mysteries of 
godliness. 

17 
The wisdom of discipline is known to the wise. 

18 

The civilization of one century is the barbarity of the 
next. 

19 
Intelligence outlineth the fairest countenance. 

20 
The life-song of many is riches ; of others, pleasure, 
power or knowledge ; but the truest notes ever sounded 
are the grand chords of justice. 

21 
When snobbery laughs at rusticity politeness retreats. 



10 



22 

Bigotry and credulity roam much together in the 
ravines of fanaticism. 

23 
Every drunkard dallies with crime, and some day 
crime may dally with him. 

24 
A smile frequently fails, but love never. 

25 
For a man to make himself good is furthering the 
intent of his Creator. 

26 

The poison of asps lies in the words of deceit. 

27 
The head of temperance is bowed with shame when 
obliged to consort with intemperance. 

28 

Wherefore should a man wrap himself with iniquity 
and be vain of the display ? 

29 

The preservation of morals is man's duty to man, 
but he it is who tramples them under the heel of 
appetite. 

30 
When crime in its terror cries out for help, the strong 
arm of the law is its only support. 

31 
Peradventure thou mayest meet a knave tomorrow: 
sharpen thy wits today. 

32 

Earn thy loaf honestly by day, that thy conscience 
may sleep at night. 

33 
Exercise thy talents daily, that they forsake thee 
not for livelier company. 



11 



34 
^^^E near unto me at all times,0 Thou that guideth, 
ylf/1 to sustain me when doubt creepeth behind and 
^^^^ when fear runneth before. Lead me by the right 
hand into the wide fields of thought, where I may 
pluck at will the blossoms of eternal truth. 

35 
Nothing more offends bigotry than tolerance. 

36 
It is the part of a philosopher to be resigned to the 
inevitable, and it is thy part to be a philosopher. 

37 
The apology of parsimony — the sin of wastefulness. 

38 
Fold thy wings, O troubled soul, and rest thee from 
worry, that thou mayest be strong for whatever the 
future holds for thee. 

39 
Be not swift to win distinction without honor. 

40 
Be not so hopeful of the future that thou forgettest 
to perform the duties of this hour. 

41 
Labor not for selfishness : thou wilt lose in the end, 
though the world become thine. 

42 
Why fill thy soul with husks when there is abundant 
grain in the crib ? 

43 
Fall into a line of action that will lead thee to use- 
fulness and thence to Godliness. 

44 
Find thy true place, if thou canst; for as sure as 
thou art, there is a niche for thee. 



12 



45 

XF the Devil of Theology were chained for a 
thousand years, would sin depart the world? 
When sin departs it will be at man's own bid- 
ding. Man has more control over sin than has this 
fallen angel of the imagination, and it were a sin the 
name were not forgotten and only deity remembered, 
for any name that conjures evil in the mind, in that 
same degree shuts out the beautiful. 

46 
Friendship that is brittle should be called by another 
name. 

47 
How sweet the sound of our mother-tongue in a 
foreign land, and as sweet the utterance of a kindred 
thought in a foreign atmosphere. 

48 
Whatever thou asketh in faith that is well for thee 
will fall into thy hand if it be constantly upraised. 

49 
To believe a lie robs one of the truth. 

50 
As soon as vice discovers virtue it tries to destroy it. 

51 
Every religion advertises to have the safest boat to 
ferry a soul across the Styx ; but after all, methinks 
each one has to wade. 

52 
If it be thy pleasure to pursue a line of thought 
contrary to thy friend's opinion, the less thou tellest 
him of thy progress the more in peace thou mayest 
follow it to a conclusion. 

53 
Before thy soul leave thy body on its nightly pil- 
grimage, bid it depart in peace with the whole world, 
lest hatred bear thee downward. 



13 



54 
When a stranger cometh thy way and asketh consola- 
tion, turn not thy face away nor withhold thy 
sympathy, for perchance the road forks at thy door, 
the one trailing to destruction, the other to instruction. 

55 
More restful a bed of leaves under the stars than a 
royal chamber of discontent. 

56 
Jealousy, like a skittish horse, is always running away 
at nothing. 

57 
Better art thou without friend or shelter than to 
pillow thy head with vice. 

58 
If thou wilt record thy acts each day, there will be 
at least one from which thou wilt desire to clip the 
rough edge. 

59 
The cleanest place in which to dwell is the whiteness 
of honesty. 

60 
Refrain from parading thy virtues, lest thy neighbor 
parade thy faults. 

61 
The gateway that leads to Heaven is through thine 
own soul. 

62 

Individuals are like so many figures in a row or so 
many letters in a line, and only when combinations 
are made is it possible to estimate their value and 
relation to one another. 

63 
The day that thy pride becomes vanity, cut it out 
with the sickle of reproof. 

64 
Vulgarity lends an ear to scandal and an eye to folly. 



14 



65 

Whatever may be thy fear of dying, it will pass away 
at the moment. 

66 
If thy thoughts be vile, keep pure thy lips, that thy 
associates escape contamination. 

67 
Whoso denieth a truth loseth the blessing of knowl- 
edge. 

68 
The fondest memory that can be carried from earth 
is that of having been just and honorable toward all 
men. 

69 
Idleness hath no part in progress. 

70 
The sting of sin blights the fruit of life. 

71 
Let the people of Earth live without discord and the 
day of their bondage is over. 

72 
A most commendable thing about skepticism is its 
determination not to accept any proposition without 
examination. 

73 
To turn night into day is a conflict with Nature 
which she oftener wins than thou. 

74 
Fret not thyself because of poverty, but keep thy 
strength to conquer it. 

75 
The wise dame will see to it that her lord hath his 
fill before she introduces him to novelty. 

76 
Give thyself only good thoughts, and thou wilt have 
none other to give thy neighbors. 



15 



77 
HERE is enough love in the universe to clothe 
all mankind and not exhaust the supply ; 
therefore take ye of it and say to another, 
There is enough for thee and thine." 



C5 



78 
Love no evil and thou wilt love all good. 

79 
Labor is the tonic of the world. 

80 
God knoweth whither He is leading us, yet by our 
capers we doubt His wisdom and would remain as 
we are. 

81 
Whenever we are visited by folly we are humiliated. 

82 
The greatest annoyance can be overcome by persistent 
thought. 

83 
So great is the miser's trust in his gold that he piles 
it about him, cheating himself into the belief that it 
will preserve him from the common fate of others. 

84 

The world is our heaven if we will. 

85 
Make fear subservient to thy bidding and let it not 
consume thee at any time. 

86 
Fear is a tyrant that oppresses every class. 

87 
Fear hateth all mankind, and in its company is only 
misery. 

88 
Fear loveth no man, nor hath it the semblance of 
affection. 



16 



89 
Our lives may be ordered by Fate, but it would seem 
that we have much to do with the result, and that 
Fate is ever ready to lean to our suggestions. 

90 
Take ye no advantage over youth nor age. The two 
extremes the strong must protect. 

91 

Each day gather up the loose threads of thy life, that 
if thou diest without warning the end will not ravel. 

92 
When the lips form a smile it is a brave frown that 
dare approach. 

93 
It is more dangerous to do good amongst the evil 
than to do evil amongst the good. 

94 

Thou wilt find treachery dwelling in refinement, but 
thou mayest look for it in coarseness. 

95 
Wisdom delights in tranquillity, but folly delights in 
noise. 

96 
Sickness runneth before a smile and laughter scat- 
tereth a host of trouble. 

97 
It is wiser to place thy mind on the morrow's dawn 
than upon yesterday's close. 

98 
Think only good and thou wilt do only good, for thou 
canst not do evil whilst thinking good. 

99 
If thou dost sorely need, if thou seekest with both 
physical and mental energy, thou wilt surely find 
relief. 



17 




100 
fCIENCE smiles at superstition and supersti- 
tion calls science unholy ; but time must bring 
the latter into a more temperate mood, and 
the proffered hand of the former will then be accepted 
in a right spirit. 

101 
Whoso speaketh ill of another defaceth his own soul. 

102 

Laughter is a merry monarch to sit upon the throne 
of circumstance. 

103 

Gloom shrinks from laughter and hideth at its 
approach. 

104 
Whoso seeketh knowledge seeketh God. 

105 
Whoso lieth maketh an indelible stain upon his 
character. 

106 
Whoso trusteth cultivates faith. 

107 
Whoso grumbleth depriveth himself of ease. 

108 
Whoso loveth discord inviteth discontent. 

109 
Whoso maketh mischief loveth iniquity. 

110 
Whoso helpeth another in need receiveth instant 
blessing. 

Ill 
Whoso gathereth knowledge gaineth contentment. 

112 

As a lost moment can never be found, it behooves thee 
to be careful of so precious a possession. 



18 



113 

XT is the closing hour of the year, and I ask thee, 
O my soul, art thou purer than thou wert when 
the year was ushered in three hundred and sixty- 
five days ago? And my soul answers. Yea, yet it dost 
not tell me that it is of a dazzling whiteness ; there- 
fore will I interrogate it one year hence if I be here, 
and may I receive a prompt and a pleasing answer. 

114 

Whoso delighteth in anger seeketh destruction. 

115 
Though thy life abound with successes, thou hast 
failed if thou hast not become acquaint with thine 
own soul. 

116 
No one on earth admires a scold ; why then cultivate 
so hateful a habit ? 

117 
A beautiful thought when put into words and passed 
down the ages, though retaining its beauty, loses 
something of force. 

118 

Quarrels bring discontent, and discontent estrange- 
ments to the very undoing of love. 

119 

Carry me a thousand leagues to sea and there will I 
find my God and my heaven within my own self. 

120 

Why should I expect sympathy and love from the 
world when I withhold it, and why should I with- 
hold it when I crave it ? 

121 
Let the dew of wisdom fall upon my parched soul, 
that I may lift mine eyes and behold the bountiful 
giver of all good. 

122 
Whoso loveth peace most loveth God and men. 



19 



123 
V^^^HE hour of our going out is marked on the dial 
t) of life by the hand of the Lawgiver, but the 
^^"^ exact moment is withheld from us, lest we take 
advantage of it by doing too much or too little in our 
allotted time. 

124 
In our search for happiness we often overlook it by 
seeking it too far beyond ourselves. 

125 
Sometimes the step from truth to falsehood is so 
shore, that many, not perceiving it, stumble. 

126 
A liar is a cheat and therefore not respectable. 

127 
In the night of thy temptation think of the morning. 

128 

As there is probably no end to life, there probably 
never was a beginning, but that which is always was 
in the various forms and conditions that Evolu- 
tion adopts in its devious workings toward perfection. 

129 
To despise that which is false leads to truth. 

130 
Refrain from too frequent confession of thy faults, 
lest thy hearers forget thy virtues. 

131 
To adore that which is beautiful is ennobling. 

132 
.Show me a man who loves his stomach much and I 
will show thee selfishness. 

133 
We are but the commonest of soil unless we are 
growing some beautiful characteristics. 



20 



134 
The final effect of passion on thyself is the shaping of 
a soul bearing no resemblance to that which thou 
wert given. 

135 
Fear is augmented by ignorance and ignorance is 
augmented by fear, and these two enemies of man 
are leagued to undo him. 

136 
Many times character and reputation are at variance 
and men are deceived, but the mask eventually falls, 
revealing beauty, ugliness, virtues and faults that 
amaze closest friends. 

137 
To reach a -conclusion without due process of reason- 
ing is as absurd as pronouncing on the merits and 
demerits of a picture before it is painted. 

138 
A bad dog loves praise no less than a good dog. If 
doubtful test this on both man and dog. 

139 
Gather up the fragments of the day's conversation 
and perchance thou mayest find one helpful thought 
for tomorrow's need. 

140 
If thou hast an enemy burden him with obligation, 
and he will be less inclined to remain near thee. 

141 
Whatsoever thou hast to give let love go with it. 

142 
Crime is so costly that no one on earth is rich enough 
to indulge in it without ruin. 

143 
If thou lettest thy left hand know what thy right hand 
doeth, let it be solely with the intention of obtaining 
its assistance. 



2L 



144 
Salvation depends not upon any belief, but upon the 
doing of right as ascertained by reasoning from causes 
to effects. 

145 
Prudence is economy — it costs less than folly. 

146 
Contentment comes to those whose lives are ordered 
by peace and justice. 

147 
Feebleness of mind comes with feebleness of purpose. 

148 

When thou hast a big porringer thou mayest eat with 
a ladle, but when thou hast a little porringer a ladle 
will empty it too soon for thy satisfaction. Therefore 
let circumstances govern even in small affairs. 

149 
If thou prepare for a storm in dry weather, it will 
save thee much discomfort and thou mayest also 
enjoy the storm. 

150 

Be direct. If asked the way to Rome do not point to 
the moon. 

151 
To predict the future consult the present. 

152 

The structure we build we must live in forever — 
then let us lay the foundation with care. 

153 

When a man goes to sleep under an apple-tree, 
trusting that an apple may fall into his mouth, it 
is an evidence of faith that makes industry marvel. 

154 
The field of knowledge covers the universe, and the 
grass is always long for those who would browse 
therein. 



22 



155 

He who carries a burden of guilt is bound to an iron 
master, who will lash him whenever he stops to think, 
and prod him cruelly when he tries to forget. 

156 
The tiniest thought of evil casts a shadow athwart 
the soul. 

157 
Whet not the appetite of lust, for verily it will slay 
both body and mind. 

158 
The early fruit of intemperance is disgust ; the late 
fruit disgrace. 

159 
The light of the past, present and future is reason. 

160 

Reason is to the mind what the sun is to the earth. 

161 

Neither spendthrift nor miser are fit for master nor 
servant. 

162 

The heavy heel of indifference tramps upon him who 
falls on the hill to fortune. 

163 
To obtain the best in life, make thyself the best. 

164 

Give unto every child that asketh a fair answer, and 
if in doubt be not ashamed to say, " I know not." 

165 
Purity can not abide with sin, and it hath no affinity 
for aught that finds pleasure in intemperance. 

166 
Be kinder to thyself, O sinner, for the day will come 
when thou wilt weep because thou hast been cruel to 
thine own soul and trailed it in the mire of animalism. 



23 



167 
Whatsoever there is of good in me I dedicate it to^ 
thee, O infinite and indulgent Father ; and whatso- 
ever of evil I have I ask deliverance from it, that I 
may be able to climb the heights where Thou dwellest. 

168 
The lesson to be learned today is thyself. 

169 
A chronic faultfinder should be his or her own ser- 
vant; then censure will partly fall where it is due. 

170 
Hatred is a subtle and destructive poison, and its 
victims are numerous. 

171 
It is easier to catch an expression than to hold it; 
easier to grasp a thought than to retain it, and most 
difficult to keep a resolution after making it. 

172 
Few are the joys of life compared with the griefs, yet 
't is the griefs that point to the star of hope and the 
crosses that make us to call upon the All -Wise. 

173 
Safety is the friend of caution. 

174 
Prepare thy mind to receive one truth each day from 
the perpetual source and it will be given thee. 

175 
When you are good, be great if you can ; and when 
you are great, be good. 

176 
There are a thousand gates open to sin, but only one 
to purity. 

177 
If thy heart is humiliated, though thou may est nudge 
the countenance often, it will betray its sympathy. 



24 



178 

XF I sigh for love, I am laughed at ; if I beg for 
it, I am refused ; if I fight for it, I am punished ; 
if I die for it, I am forgotten ; if I barter for it, 
I am scorned. There is no way that I can obtain it 
proudly but by noble effort. • 

179 
The pleasure that comes from viewing beauty should 
he an incentive to create it in ourselves and our sur- 
roundings. 

180 
Place a cannon at the gate of thy conscience if neces- 
sary, to repulse dishonesty. 

181 
Destroy the root of evil in thine own life, and thou 
hast done much toward bettering the world. 

182 
Helpful is every good resolve, but most helpful when 
unbroken. 

183 
It is foolish to climb the fence when the gate is open, 
yet this is what many do when approaching the 
Father's house. 

184 
Be not laggards. It was decreed in the beginning that 
man work out his own civilization. 

185 
Without experience and reflection, progress would 
languish. 

186 
Directness and sincerity are the offspring of kindness. 

187 
The quickness with which we find a fault should 
help us to as quickly find a virtue. 

188 
The price of experience is known to the buyers of it. 



25 



189 
Although the world is so full of love, it is so precious 
that money can not purchase it, nor begging obtain it. 

190 

Forget not thou art mortal, and thou mayest be 
better prepared for immortality. 

191 
Solitary indeed is the condition of him who has no 
one to think about but himself. 

192 
Time will turn the most poignant grief into an idyl 
that is good for the heart to chant. 

193 
Tell me the beginning and I will venture a conclusion, 
but tell me the conclusion and I may fail to find the 
cause. 

194 

A lost opportunity can never be found, and most of 
the failures in life are the result of such loss. 

195 
The light that shines from knowledge is different 
from that which shines from wisdom. 

196 
Love is the dream of all ages — but only the soul 
knows the dream from the reality. 

197 
The size of a sin is not measured by the provocation, 
but by the wrong committed. 

198 
Keep a check on thy imagination if thou wouldst 
have it serve thee skilfully. 

199 
Danger watcheth every hour at Folly's door to gain 
entrance. 



26 



200 

^^^HE first sip of young love is sweeter than honey, 
4^ but the dregs of passion are wormwood. Is 
^^^ there then no vintage that men and women may 
quaff with lasting pleasure ? There is : the love that 
groweth in the deep soil of the soul beareth fruit from 
which is pressed the wine of life. It quencheth all 
thirst and maketh the morning and the evening a 
delight and the midday a blessing. 

201 
The rulers of peoples, alas ! are neither the wisest nor 
the best ; they may be likened to the gilded ball that 
adorns the flagstaff under which floats the glorious 
flag. 

202 

It is wiser to perfect one gift than to cultivate many. 

203 

When opportunity raps at thy door, open it. 

204 

Hesitation is as close to success as to disaster. 

205 

A bright thought is the reflection of a divine ray. 

206 

He who speaketh to wound must sometime suffer. 

207 
Fear not : All that befalls thee may be added to thy 
strength and symmetry if thou wilt utilize with skill. 

208 

Ask not for a deluge, but be content with showers. 

209 
A forecast of tomorrow is the preparation of today. 

210 

As a last resort, ask yourself of the things that per- 
plex, and thou mayest receive the best advice. 



27 



211 
Listen, thou who lovest Nature, she whispers softly, 
and much that she would impart is lost if ear be dull. 

212 
Language may fail thee when beholding art, but 
thought never. 

213 
The visions of the mind please as much as the scenes 
spread before the eye. 

214 
To appear noble before thine own soul is more than 
thou canst do. 

215 
The doubt of immortality is the present inferno of 
the doubter. 

216 
Verily he who serves habit hath a pitiless master* 

217 
Idle curiosity consumeth the hours and maketh 
waste the mind. 

218 
He who striketh with spite must some day bare his 
own back to the same rod. 

219 
He who covereth his sins carefully from his friends 
exposeth his guilt plainly to himself. 

220 
Whoso prepareth a feast and inviteth no man to it 
hath no joy in partaking. 

221 
When the clerical shepherd slips on the path of recti- 
tude, the sheep bleat and the wolves howl. 

222 
The voice of the imagination whispereth so many 
strange things that it is often rebuked when it 
whispereth truly. 



28 



223 
The closer thou canst get to the prosperous, the 
greater thy chance that prosperity may smile on thee. 

224 
Whoso runneth after an enemy runneth after trouble. 

225 
Whoso bareth his heart inviteth a thrust. 

226 

Silence and thought are the closest of companions: 
when the world is shut out, they muse by the hour. 

227 
There are none so superficial but what greatness will 
impress. 

228 
The source of a gift makes it precious or burdensome. 

229 

Most blest of men is he whom the pursuit of knowl- 
edge satisfies. 

230 
The skill acquired in the art of deception can be put 
to no other use. 

231 
Generosity begins at the point that selfishness ter- 
minates. 

232 
That which we like not is ever at our elbow. 

233 
Form is eternal, but shapes come and go like the 
butterflies of the Summertime. 

234 
Innocence hath much faith in guilt. 

235 

When thou hast learned the art of true living, thou 
wilt know the best from the worst. 



29 



236 
^^::^HE generations of men that come and go upon 
^ J the earth leave an unseen impress on all things, 
^^^ and the reading thereof would make the true 
history of man. 

237 
The first thought of the pure mind against the wicked 
is condemnation ; the second, pity ; and the last, love. 

238 
Occasional falsehoods make frequent doubts. 

239 
Humiliation follows debasement until the moral 
nature is ossified. 

240 
Defeat runs after chance oftener than after method. 

241 
He who walks with prudence walks with good com- 
pany, and though perchance not always brilliant it 
never leads to dishonor. 

242 

Whichever way men go trouble interferes to prevent 
perfect pleasure. . 

243 
In the pathway of chance the least coveted springeth 
up, whilst the most wanted speedeth afar. 

244 

Be thyself, whatever and whoever confronts thee, 
and thou wilt feel better than to play a part. 

245 
It is more agreeable to commend than to complain, 
and were there more commending the causes for 
complaints would diminish. 

246 
Bitterness follows every moral defeat as naturally as 
ecstacy follows victory. 



30 



247 
^^5r HE domain of science is wide enough to con- 
^ J tain all the religions of earth, and into it will 
^^^ they all eventually slip and become scientific, 
and then may they hope to live alway. 

248 
The greatest of thieves is slothfulness : it robs of 
time, industry, energy, pleasure and the achievement 
of anything that life holds precious. 

249 
The fiercest storm that beats is against despoiled 
virtue. 

250 
Inasmuch as ye are not just ye are degraded. 

251 
A Liar is a robber of Truth. 

252 

Inexperience has no defense against the wiles of 
experience, and what is often condemned as lack of 
sense is really too great faith. 

253 
The next* life is a sequel to this, and the closing 
chapter of the first book is an indication of the open- 
ing chapter of book second. 

254 
Wherever thou findest a fault, immediately look for 
a virtue. 

255 

To coerce a man to accept views contrary to his 
reason is like thrusting his head into a cask and 
expecting demonstration of joy thereat. 

256 
Inability to select ancestors should make us decent. 

257 
'When the people are careless the weeds grow tall. 



31 



258 
When sporting with riches, have a care lest thou 
strike against the sharp comers of uncharitableness. 

259 
Freedom is not wholly ours until we can form our 
own opinion without the bias of dictators. 

260 
Be thyself, however odd, rather than an imitator of 
another. 

261 
Without discrimination we grope in darkness, and 
when we fall we blame the obstacle which tripped us, 
instead of berating ourselves as we ought. 

262 
From the high mountains of science are the new 
writings to be given to the waiting multitude below. 

263 
Ethics inhere in the constitution of man, and when 
developed and comprehended he will require no 
restraints and demand no liberties, for he will know 
the code. 

264 

When thou findest peace thou hast found a jewel of 
heaven. 

265 
Free expression of thought makes vigorous growth 
of mind. 

266 
Miracles will be wrought when chance supersedes 
order, therefore they are neither probable nor 
desirable. 

267 

A lengthy debate does not argue ability, nor an angry 
one wisdom.^ 

268 
The truth is abrupt when frequently a falsehood is 
polite, which is the only thing pleasing about it. 



32 



269 
^TT^HEN walking in pleasant avenues amid the 
V i y exotics and the fragrance of life, we scarce think 
^^^^ of the toilers on the dusty highways and those 
who live in the swamps of crime or beg on the barren 
planes of want ; but should our own steps be turned 
hitherward by a freak of misfortune, we would then 
perceive that there are the same gradings and shadings 
of character in unpleasant as in pleasant places. 

270 
Tlie design of making man is not very apparent, but 
we know it was not for idleness but for work. 

271 
Improvidence is the almshouse turnpike. 

272 
The riches of the rich and the poverty of the poor are 
not sins ; but the manner of arriving at these antipodes 
may count against them in the great day of their 
demise. 

273 
Society is not regulated by its extremes, but by the 
great middle public, who harmonize the two antago- 
nistic ends. 

274 
To arraign poverty against wealth is to apply the 
consuming torch to the arts and sciences. 

275 
Society of all grades admires itself and looks with 
distrust upon outsiders. 

276 
For riches to grind want is to sharpen the blade where- 
with to decapitate itself. 

277 
On the margin of thy memory write duty, and on thy 
heart write love ; then art thou ready to be inter- 
rogated by thy conscience and acquitted of neglect. 



33 



278 
iw^HEN once awakened to the fact that danger 
r ly lurks in every error, there will be more indi- 
^^ vidual thinking along religious lines, and less 
willingness to accept without investigation the cut 
and dried systems of a less enlightened era. 

279 
The opening of a flower is the spirit within seeking 
material expression, the better to perform its beauti- 
ful mission. 

280 
Hunger is the shadow of imprudence. 

281 

Meddlers will scratch in the domestic garden despite 
all efforts to keep them out. 

282 
With truth thou mayest go to the ends of the earth 
with safety, but it is dangerous to travel a league 
with a lie. 

283 
Twenty bad men wield not so much influence in a 
community as one good man who speaks his con- 
victions and lives his principles. 

284 

Give a dog a bad name if he bites, but call him a good 
dog as long as possible. 

285 
If thou hast set the target of ambition high it is 
foolish to aim low. 

286 
Harmony proceedeth from all Nature, but whence 
Cometh melody to man? It seemeth not to be by his 
own skill, but an inflow from the source of perpetual 
supply. 

287 

The valley giveth repose, but the mountains inspire. 



34 



m 



288 
^AN declareth himself made in the image of 
God ; of this, he hath no evidence, but when he 
shall have passed through the countless changes 
ahead of him, he must be more beautiful, and then it 
may be less vain to claim resemblance than in his 
present plainness and crudity. 

289 
All words that picture evil are creative of evil. 

290 
Youth is frolicsome; but age is not as tolerant of 
play as it were well to be when nearing the great 
leap of life. 

291 

Keep young, though thy years be counted by gener- 
ations. 

292 

If thou hast words and the freedom to use them, thou 
needest little defense beside. 

293 

A lesson in prudence may be gained by youth by 
asking of age. 

294 
To quarrel with thy brother offends the majesty of 
thy being. 

295 
The closer a man lives to his convictions, the closer he 
lives to his God. 

296 
Full many an hour of torture in facial embellishments 
is spent, only to make vanity the greater and time 
more revengeful. 

297 
The passage across the channel of death may be one 
of pleasure, anxiety or distress, but it is tolerably 
certain that travelers will reach the farther shore in 
about the same condition of mind that they leave this. 



35 



6 



298 
fACH day gather up the kind words and kind 
deeds and tie them in a bundle, and gather the 
unkind words and acts and tie them in another 
— then weigh them in the scales of justice to determine 
thy shortcomings. 

299 

Acquaint thyself with thy relation to Nature and thou 
wilt be more respectful to thy body. 

300 

The way to happiness is always upward. 

301 
Soul-growth depends on the thought-soil in which it • 
is embedded. 

302 

Because Selfishness is extant, there is no human 
judgment that is impartial. 

303 
Is thy soul white, or is it black — ask thyself this 
question often and answer it candidly until the answer 
causeth thee no shame. 

304 
He who labors for hire hath little of enthusiasm, but 
he who executes the commands of his own brain hath 
most there is. 

305 
Be not in haste to overcome the sins of others until 
thou hast partially overcome thine own. Whereas a 
missionary may proselyte he can not make better 
unless practising his precepts. 

306 
We are a little nearer heaven when we live in the 
upper stories of the mind than when we stay in the 
cellar. 

307 
The solace of a broken heart is the promise of death. 



36 



308 
The easiest way is the best way only when the best 
way is the easiest way. 

309 

Wherever thou dost find want, thou wilt find vice 
not afar. 

310 
The present enlightenment of the world came not by 
chance but by design — not through the back brain 
but through the development of the intellectual 
faculties. 

311 
As the third and fourth generations will bless or curse 
thee, be never swift to sever the conjugal tie nor in 
haste to tie it. 

312 
The fate that awaits the seducer is the same with 
embellishments that awaits any thief. 

313 
The exercise of patience in regard to a fault is well, 
but exercise it not until it becomes endurance, for 
then it is nigh to sanctioning wrong. 

314 
The privilege of want is asking, and the pri^^ilege 
of plenty is giving. 

315 
Enter no more into worry, e'en though the door be 
open wide and the mistress of calamity stand within 
the portals calling thee. 

316 
Meet the ills of life like a true disciple of reason, know- 
ing that that which has befallen thee can not be 
changed and that that which threatens may never 
be if today due precaution be exercised. 

317 
The full sweetness of love comes after separation* 



37 



318 

XSAY unto thee, O sufferer, though thou mayest 
think Ufe a burden too heavy to bear, stay with 
thy body until Nature severs the cord that 
binds thee to the lower kingdom and ushers thee to 
the higher life, but go not unbidden, for it will not be 
well for thy soul's happiness. 

319 
The highest achievement has been attained by man 
when he is absolute monarch of himself; then his 
health and happiness are subject to his own rulings. 

320 

The proprieties of life are best conserved by kind- 
ness and love. 

321 

Be not profligate of time, for thou hast not enough for 
thy tasks. 

322 
If a man respect himself, why does he permit his 
conduct openly to insult him ? 

323 

The degradation of the body is insolence to God. 

324 

Wherefore look ye for peace without when there is 
war within ? 

325 
Health declines the companionship of inaction. 

326 

The way to success is tortuous, but the way from it 
is so plain that a fool never misses it. 

327 

Vanity findeth no lodgment with wisdom. 

328 

Whenever scandal waits on thy doorstep send it away 
before thy neighbors adjust their lorgnettes. 



38 



329 

Yp^OLD a candle close to the inner chambers of 
If I thy mind, to see if thou canst find a thought 
^^"^ worthy of expression, and if thou dost, bring 
it forth, clothe it decently and send it out as a mis- 
sionary — yea, if thou hast many missionaries in the 
fields of ignorance it is creditable. 

330 
Fill my upraised hands, O ye unseen Intelligences, 
with that which is needful to nourish my spirit on its 
daily pilgrimage. 

331 
Blazon this fact to the world that vice will some day 
be slain by knowledge. 

332 

When self-pity and melancholy are associated, happi- 
ness seeks other society. 

333 
The future is what the present decrees. If thou wilt 
learn thy lesson today the experience will not be 
repeated tomorrow. 

334 
The fact that alcohol returns no one's love should 
make every one too proud to run after it. 

335 
When youth dashes impatiently past infirmity, it will 
meet it again at the end of the road. 

336 

Crime is the fruit of ignorance, and ignorance is the 
fruit of ignorance. 

337 
A slave will serve the master, but the master never 
serves the slave — if thou serve sin all thy life thou 
art still a slave. 

338 

When the heart is nigh broken, pride will strengthen it. 



39 



339 

QLACE thy form in the inspection chair and let 
thy mind walk across the room and criticize — 
then wilt thou be doing as thou hast done to 
others, and if thou be fair, thou wilt observe as much 
that is awry in thyself as in thy visitor, though the 
faults be dissimilar. 

340 
The frequency of blunders maketh impossible con- 
stant peace. 

341 
Ostentation loves money, though money does not 
always love ostentation. 

342 
Gratitude is the word of love that dwelleth in the 
heart. 

343 
Conscience speaks harshly or tenderly according to 
the deeds done. 

344 

Hatred pouts, but love laughs all day. 

345 
Capriciousness is both selfish and self-willed. 

346 

Women love peace more than war because they love 
men. 

347 
Thou mayest purchase cloth wherewith to drape thy 
body, but thy soul covering thou must weave for 
thyself. 

348 
The coming of another day portends the repetition 
of the faults of this. 

349 
An official who respects himself, respects his office, 
but a defaulter, alas ! and an unworthy incumbent is 
wholly lacking in pride, though vanity may possess 
him and lead him to disgrace. 



40 



350 

B TWENTIETH-CENTURY theologian may 
be no better than an earher one, but he is so 
different that the two would not be harmonious 
together, and the next century will produce a species 
altogether different from any heretofore found. Most 
of the dogmas now cherished as truths will be declared 
the illusions of children, and many of the conceptions 
of God the speculations of the feeble-minded. 

351 
Let the blind congratulate themselves that they see 
not the iniquity that lies about them. 

352 
It is a waste of time to affirm the infallibility of past 
or present religion, as the progressive future may 
refute it. 

353 
As the completion of any science is unattainable in 
this world, it is pleasant to contemplate the possibility 
of great minds pursuing congenial occupations beyond 
the limitations of the flesh. 

354 

It is easier to swallow praise than censure, for one is 
sweet and the other bitter. 

355 
The thoughts when ruffled are quickest smoothed by 
the introduction of impersonal subjects. 

356 
The artistic and poetic are friends in thought oftener 
than in person. 

357 
Vulgarity demands conspicuousness, but refinement is 
content without it. 

358 
Nature runs her course and man his, but if he would 
always run with Nature and not in contrary direction, 
he would have fewer mishaps and longer life. 



41 



359 
Too much value can not be placed on self-culture, as 
upon the individual depends the whole structure of 
society. 

360 
When the interval is very long between the sowing, 
and the sprouting, doubt uproots much of the seed. 

361 

We are prone to heap the faults of others to cover our 
own. 

362 

The easiest way to forget a wrong is to do a right. 

363 
Love of justice must be established in the hearts of 
men ere they can walk with God. 

364 
Add the column of thy good deeds and of thy bad 
deeds and then compare and ponder the answer. 

365 
Methinks the gateway of heaven has frequently been 
left ajar by the countless angels who have ascended 
from the firesides of earth. 

366 
The most inconsistent thing about prohibition is the 
intemperance of the name. 

367 
He who goeth from the world with an empty head will 
be in a sorry plight in the next. 

368 
The tides of life beat ceaselessly on the shores of time, 
bringing in and carrying out love with the ebb and 
flow. 

369 
In the midsummer of years be admonished that thou 
art halfway to the midwinter when Nature sleeps. 



42 



370 
Vj^HEN night touches the eyelids, slumber cometh 
fly near and it is unsafe to interfere with the 
^^^ approach of the drowsy god, because he is 
revengeful and when again summoned may refuse to 
approach, but stands afar and mocks and jeers at 
hapless man whose very life depends upon him. 

371 
An indelible stain — self-abasement. 

372 
As it is dangerous to play with fire, why not, O cruel 
man, let reason extinguish the fires of hell before 
more of earth's children are burnt ! 

373 
Heareth one the smallest voice of compassion above 
the roar of condemnation it soundeth like a sweet 
note through the clanging discord. 

374 
One can not judge of the flavor of the pudding by 
chewing the pudding-bag string, yet such is super- 
ficial judgment. 

375 
Mankind suffers more from greed than pestilence. 

376 
The poverty that attends a sour nature is without 
mitigation. 

377 
Everywhere temptation hovers over the weak, and 
that they fall not oftener, give them praise. 

378 
Nothing is more agreeable than a clear conscience, 
and there is no more troublous possession than an 
accusing one. 

379 
Whenever a romantic mind meets the unromantic 
world, disillusion is watching around the corner. 



43 



380 
Vj^HERE there is harmony there is growth, but 
\ I r ^^^^^ discord reigns the soul can not put forth 
^"*^ new branches, neither can it bud and blossom 
in the blasts of discontent nor bear fruit in the chill . 
of repining. 

381 
The view that a man takes of religion is according 
to the measure of his reason. 

382 
It is well-nigh impossible to find courage in the 
uncertainty of adversity. 

383 
Proclaim not thy successes to the poor nor thy 
failures to the rich. 

384 
Look to age for instruction, to youth for enthusiasm, 
and to childhood for affection. 

385 
Ere thou sleepest at night request thy soul to pro- 
tect its tenement until the spirit returns from its 
starry pilgrimage. 

386 
Love may not increase with much religion, but it will 
increase many-fold with wisdom. 

387 
Be ever ready to listen, then be ever ready to gain. 

388 
Whoso deceive th diggeth a pit for his own soul. 

389 
In whatsoever degree thou findest truth, in that 
degree thou findest God. 

390 
Whenever light breaks through the darkness of thy 
mind it gives thee an opportunity to dust the corners. 



44 



391 
V" y CAUTIOUS man, when he resides among 
I I thieves, will bar his door when he sleeps, and 
^^ ^ if all doors in a community are locked it is a 
sign to the people that the pulpits should abandon 
doctrine and preach ethics. 

392 
A pretender is an offender. 

393 
Whatever adds to the happiness of life, adds to its 
value, making it a more precious legacy for thy 
children. 

394 
Idleness is the dry rot of existence. 

395 
The only work that indolence does cheerfully is the 
digging of its own grave. 

396 
Father Time cuts off a yearly coupon of experience 
for each of his children, for which he receives as many 
curses as thanks. 

397 
A domestic breeze capsizes love and sometimes 
drowns it. 

398 
Tomorrow is the unspotted page of a new day. What 
intend ye to write upon it ? 

399 
Heroism is the morning star of unselfishness. 

400 

There are countless paths that lead to God, for no 
man treads another's. 

401 
Symbolism is never exhausted, flowing like a per- 
petual stream on and on through all the ages and 
laving the banks of every literature and religion. 



45 



402 

XT sounds strange to say that the family skeleton 
is a lively member of the household, but it is 
ever ready to dance for company and to rattle 
its bones for the entertainment of the villagers, to 
grin at the stranger or to mock at decorum. 

403 
When virtue tells its wrongs to the world, its utterance 
is prompted by bitterness, for love is ever silent when 
dishonored. 

404 
It is erroneously supposed by the uninitiated that 
much money maketh a man bold, whereas it maketh 
him a quaking coward and to feel like a mark for 
destruction. 

405 
We must acknowledge that a cloudless sky is not 
more beautiful than when it is flecked with prismatic 
colors. 

406 
Though thy worldly condition be that of poverty, 
keep not thy mind from its own rich estate — then 
wilt not thy surroundings degrade thee, nor thy 
soul be deprived of its birthright. 

407 
A judgment shall fall upon him who continues in 
deception, for he constantly tugs at the pillars that 
support the structure above his own head. 

408 
It is not more laborious to utter sense than nonsense, 
truth than falsehood, though the preponderance of 
evidence is to the contrary. 

409 
O night, wrap me about with thy dark robe and 
protect me from fear as thou leadest me toward the 
mom. O day, most bright and beautiful, illumine my 
soul that I may walk with safety toward the night. 



46 



410 

HETTERS are the white-winged birds of thought, 
flitting here and there amongst the high and 
low branches of society, sometimes bursting 
into melody or trilling of sorrow, and not a few preen 
their feathers and chirp only of themselves. 

411 
In the doing of good works it is not altogether 
reprehensible to let it be known, as it may stimulate 
others to imitate, and for similar reasons thy evil 
deeds were best closeted. 

412 

There are many stations up the mountain of wisdom, 
and only the perfect man will reach the pinnacle. 

413 
If we take a clear view of an enemy we will not say 
that he is mean and despicable, but that he is unhappy. 

414 
An illumined mind is brighter than the electrifying 
thought which it gives to the groping world. 

415 
Hoary with age are the great religions, yet only a 
fraction of truth has been revealed to priesthood or 
laity. 

416 

Faith is not best when knowledge is attainable. 

417 
Mercy is a product of civilization ; and while cruelty 
is expressed by word or act, evolution will continue 
its reformatory work until all men and all religions are 
brought under the subjection of kindness and benev- 
olence. 

418 
Science, by its scientific methods, will eventually 
make men sharers in God's work and the secret 
laboratories will be opened to the honest laborer. 



47; 



419 
So galling are the chains of intemperance that when 
once worn the scars can not be effaced. 

420 

The outcome of argument is oftener anger than con- 
viction. 

421 
When enemies meet, words must be weighed. When 
friends meet, this trouble can be dispensed with. 

422 

Palaces are not freer from care than cottages. 

423 
To denounce a subject without a full understanding 
of it is the fooFs privilege. 

424 

Immodesty defileth the holy temple of the spirit. 

425 
To crawl through the window when the door is open 
serves no useful purpose. Yet millions today are 
crawling through the narrow windows of super- 
stition when the broad doors of reason are wide open. 

426 
To get away from self is a more difficult feat than 
any man has yet accomplished. 

427 
Every soul should have a glimpse of Paradise while 
on earth, but this will only be possible through self- 
purification. 

428 
The midnight of superstition is passed and we are 
now in the early morning hours of reason. 

429 
Though an untruth were uttered by ten thousand 
voices from Alpha to Omega, it would be a lie forever. 



48 



430 
Immorality has been the great sin of all ages, and as 
civilization advances it keeps pace; what shall be 
done to destroy the monster ? This is a closer question 
than any pertaining to creed or dogma and of more 
importance to salvation. 

431 
The memory of a wrong deed must live longer than 
the effects of the deed, for on the soul that thou 
takest to the Border-Land, is it graven in letters that 
are enduring. 

432 
The danger of a too intimate acquaintance with evil 
is its blighting effect on the soul. 

433 
Never permit Satan to walk in front of you. If you 
must take him along make him walk behind. 

434 

Perfect peace is but a beautiful dream. 

435 
When the wheel of fortune sinks deep in the mire it 
is more sensible to get off and try to lift it out than to 
sit on the load and complain. 

436 
When thou speakest without fervor thou speakest 
without effect. 

437 
We can not hit the mark if the range is too long for 
our musket. 

438 
In the evening of care and suffering must be paid the 
debts of the misspent morning. 

439 

The mind is the most wonderful of all storehouses,, 
and there is nothing in science, art or letters that has 
not been given a place in one of the many. 



49 



440 
Life is a blessing but death is glorious, for it liberates 
the imprisoned spirit and opens wider the gates of 
knowledge. 

441 
Retrospection is pleasurable along the line of duty, 
but along the line of regret it is harrowing. 

442 

What a mistake we make when we think no one sees 
us when we do wrong ! Our own spirit looking through 
our mortal vision sees our acts and condemns ; and if 
our own can do this, probably many others can. 




50 



BOOK TW^O 




443 
JHE fate of all who climb the moun- 
tain of learning is alike : they die 
before they reach the pinnacle, 
and the ascent from the base is 
marked with graves and on the 
headstones are graven illustrious 
names but for whom the world 
would be a region of desolation 
and an unhallowed spot. Rise, 
ye who are aweary, and go a little higher ere ye fall ; 
ye will not be sepulchered in another's tomb, but will 
rest in thine own niche, and this shall be writ on thy 
slab: He shall not be judged finally by comparison, 
but by love. 

444 

When triumphant from a race thou leavest some one 
in disgrace. 

445 

Be quick to silence thy temper, lest it disgrace thee. 

446 
The honors of life belong to them who make the 
noblest record ; and whether it be public or private, 
the hero will be decorated in the home of souls, 
though he be the most obscure of earth's toilers. 

447 

O bountiful supply, we thank thee that thou givest 
us each day that which we need for our growth. 

448 

He who can endure seldom misses the goal for which 
he strives. 

449 

The sweetness of wisdom lingers when one has tasted 
the fruit of knowledge. 

450 
The ingrate maketh many to want, and oft lacketh 
himself because he is what he is. 



53 



451 
^^JHE frequency with which men deny the churchly 
l^) notion of God is evidence of thought upon the 
^^■^ subject ; and though thy God or my God may 
not be acceptable, the other man's God may fill the 
universe, and he be content and mild when they 
who differ condemn him because he sees with his own 
eyes and listens with his own instead of a borrowed 
ear. 

452 

We come to vexation soon when we incite hate, and 
to peace soon when we breathe only love. 

453 

The young and innocent have no redress when 
despoiled by age and vice. 

454 

The first taste of intemperance is shame, the finaf 
shamelessness. 

455 
If thou hast opportunity to do thy brother a kindness 
and it seemeth to thee right, be not deterred by the 
thought that the world may not applaud. 

456 
Fashion mocks antiquity, yet borrows from it every 
time it turns about, exclaiming, ** this is new and that 
is new," whereas it is only evolution on the fashion- 
able plane. 

457 
The wiles of sin are shocking to the balanced. 'T is. 
only the unbalanced that are pleased. 

458 
Dost thy mind vibrate with the fresh thought of 
the day or hast thy mind run down and the pendulum 
ceased to swing? If so, wind it quickly and let 
it point to the exact hour, for a mind behind the age is, 
like a clock behind the time, a deceptive and unreliable 
indicator when journeying through the world. 



54 



459 

CHE keenest satire on man's demand for freedom 
is his desire for the things that enslave. When 
he is given Hberty he can not exercise it, 
because of the shackles of habit he has forged for 
himself and weareth even with vanity and boasting 
in the presence of the free. 

460 
Heretofore all sin has been attributed to the devil ; 
but in this day and generation, sin is known to be 
some degree of ignorance. 

461 
The great value of innocence is not appreciated until 
guilt steals it. 

462 
That which makes a man successful is not so much 
what he knows of the past, as his insight into the 
future. 

463 
The bloom of youth is not more beautiful than the 
ripeness of years. 

464 
The possibilities of life are more wonderful than its 
probabilities. 

465 
An advocate of truth needs no stronger associate or 
ally. 

466 
If thou must repeat gossip, be fair in thy version.. 

467 
Pleasures that amuse are more needed by mental 
toilers than those which spur the brain to a gallop up 
the hill of research. 

468 
The immature idea was mechanical creation, which 
so offended the mature and rational mind that evo- 
lution was substituted with gladness and relief.. 



55^ 



469 
^^iJHE life of intellectuality and the life of imbecil- 
^ J ity vary not in the economy of Nature, and in 
^^^ the end of many cycles the latter will have 
become like the former and both perfect as the law 
intended, and thus does justice work its divine 
purpose, by gradual development. 

470 
To belittle another adds another defect to thyself. 

471 
If the lifeboat of sympathy were sent out to the 
perishing in the sea of sin, many might be rescued 
who would rather go to the bottom than board any 
sectarian raft. 

472 
Many like wit better than wisdom, but the proper 
admixture of both is the dose most needed by the 
many. 

473 
There is a time in the life of a man when fortune 
favors, but let that day pass without recognition and 
he may never again be noticed by the golden god. 

474 
The countenance of wisdom is not stamped with 
baseness and cunning, but rather hath it the look of 
gentleness, humility and compassion. 

475 
The least that is said and the most that is done, the 
quicker a reform. 

476 
Conscience knocks at the inner door daily: a few 
open promptly, but the many reluctantly, to be 
questioned by this severe censor regarding their 
conduct. 

477 
Ask thyself if thou be pure, and if the answer be a 
moment delayed thou mayest know there is a doubt. 



56 



478 
iw^HEN the hand of time touches the head of man, 
TMj leaving a snowy impress thereon, it betokeneth 
^•^^ the approach of Winter, and the Winter is a 
promise of Spring, when all that is old shall become 
new. Therefore behold in thy silvered hair a sign of 
the resurrection, and sing joyfully as in youth. 

479 
It is a violation of moral hygiene to allow anger to 
govern. 

480 
It is smoother sailing with a domestic breeze than 
against it. 

481 
That which we dread may be overcome by ceasing to 
hold the thought. 

482 
Prophecy seemeth the desire of the people, and if it 
were possible in times past, even so shall it continue 
to be given to a few to foretell the events that cast 
their shadows athwart the planet. 

483 

Weak is thy defense, O man, against the wiles of 
sophistry unless aided by commonsense. 

484 
The religion that is left after much raking and turning 
in the fire of reason is purer, much of the dross having 
been burned out. 

485 

Much that is to thee given is taken away because of 
thy neglect to utilize it. ^ 

486 
Heaven is the home of the mind. 

487 
Generosity fareth ill when it meeteth greed, for the 
latter seeketh less with love than with thought of gain. 



57 



488 

HAR into the midnight of the future would I 
peer, O my brother, that I might tell thee if 
there be spread a snare for thy feet or a deep 
pit digged for thy undoing ; yet if thou hearkenest not 
to the voice of thine own soul that calleth with 
authority, thou wouldst not hearken to Love's advice, 
though I call thee by name and beseech thee to turn 
from impurity. 

489 
The highest praise that can be bestowed on a man is 
this : He reached the eminence upon which he stands 
by his own exertion and was not carried thither by 
another. 

490 

True happiness is not leisurely passive, but aggres- 
sively active. 

491 

If thy friends were as afraid of evil as they would have 
thee think, the world would be redeemed without 
more ado. 

492 
Fill thy life with love, and thou hast all of happiness 
that the world gives to her favorites. 

493 

It is a broad road to poverty, but a narrow lane to 
wealth. 

494 

Let peace be maintained alway, not by the hand and 
sword, but by the heart and head. 

495 
The nation speaks on her holidays to the people of the 
present and reminds them that she entrusts to them 
the sacred care of making the future. 

496 
The hand of death falls lighter on poverty than on 
wealth, but lightest on him who meets it with a 
prepared mind and a life untarnished with deceit. 



58 



497 

Yp^OLY, inflexible and sublime are the laws of 

■ I Nature, and he who transgresses even the least 

must suffer to the degree of his sin. There is 

no manner of escape, and none other can pay the 

penalty for the violator. 

498 
Give thy hand, O brother in darkness, to him who 
traveleth by the lamp of reason, that thou may est be 
led safely around the bogs of cant to the high land 
where thou mayest see the sunrise for thyself. 

499 
Let thy life be so ordered that should death call for 
thee this hour thou mightest journey without incon- 
venience. 

500 
Too much of good might become evil. If the sun shone 
all night sleep might await its departure. 

501 
Happy is he who hath not need of discipline at death. 

502 
Life is a failure when its object is mistaken. 

503 

The flavor of evil is as often sweet as bitter, but the 
poison is there though concealed. 

504 

We shall never hear the first nor the last of God. 

505 
Mind is our leader in all things. 

506 
The heart's secrets are its very own, and no one 
should ask division. 

507 
The deliberations and conclusions of science have 
more weight with the world today than ever before. 



59 



508 

EROM the landing of the Pilgrim Fathers the 
Americans have not been found lacking in any 
crisis, nor will they ever run from duty ; excit- 
able are they, yet slow to anger, loving peace more 
than war, but country more than all. 

509 
Much frayed is the hem of experience. 

510 
If a lonely hermit ask thee to tarry for a moment with 
him, hesitate not to cast thy shadow across his 
homely way, that through thee he may unite himself 
again with the living world of which he should be a 
daily part. 

511 
Into a good book dost the writer put the imperishable 
part of himself — therefore it dieth not, though he 
depart from the world. 

512 
When fades the day, let peace fold her wings and rest 
within thy heart. 

513* 
Though a man of many virtues be not seen, as a fire 
upon a hill is a man with vices. 

514 
As a man liveth today, so beginneth he the tomorrow 
of existence. So sayeth reason, which hath said so 
much that is true that I therefore believe. 

515 
Though thou search diligently thou wilt not find 
perfection, for its home is not amongst men, and we 
know not if it be with angels. 

516 
Fear not death ; neither contemplate the devil ; death 
is the hand of love, and the devil and his fiery habita- 
tion the workings of minds in darkness. 



60 



517 
O vain desire, that I may learn the law in a day and 
know all good from evil in a twinkling ! 

518 
The best there is in us is God. 

519 
It is better to love all than to hate one. 

520 

When we find the kingdom of heaven, we find God 
within. 

521 
If we conjure a lie, it is henceforth a child of our 
adoption ; we must nurse and care for it constantly, 
and even then it may turn upon us whenever oppor- 
tunity presents and frighten us by its increasing 
demands. 

522 
Loneliness — an empty mind in a universe of thought. 

523 

Each flower hath folded within its leafy heart a 
message of love from the infinite that the finite may 
read, care they to know what sayeth a lover to the 
loved. 

524 

When the messenger of death draweth near, listen 
with great joy if the tidings be for thee. 

525 
Whatsoever a man thinketh, he will do when oppor- 
tunity presents — therefore the necessity for right 
thinking. 

526 
A sorrow that maketh the eyelids to gush is more 
merciful than one that drieth them. 

527 
It is less difficult to place the responsibility of wrong- 
doing than to apportion the consequences. 



61 




528 
fTILL, Oh, so still, my soul, art thou, and I 
listening for the voice of the Divine that we 
heed not the great noise about us, neither are 
we troubled by the discord that smites the calm when 
we are riding above the clouds of earth ; my soul 
heareth more of the word than the moral I, but we 
speak together concerning those things that we can 
not comprehend, and of the time when we shall abide 
where aspiration hath its home, where the muses 
walk in the dwelling-places of Inspiration, tran- 
scribing from the everlasting tablets of thought, that 
which is eternal good, and of that unknown day when 
we may be led within the birth chamber of Cause, to 
look into the holy cradle and to behold the Divine 
Father and Mother of all that has been, is and will be. 

529 
The parents of sin are ignorance and selfishness. 

530 

The saddest spot on earth — the grave of hope. 

531 

A busy place — where promises are made and broken. 

532 

A neat and fitting garment — the plain truth, though 
not always fashionable. 

533 
Threadbare is the cloak of religions. 

534 
It is a glorious reign to be king of thyself — to say, 
** Do thou this and do thou that, O self, for I, the 
King, have spoken." 

535 
Increased income augments unrest. 

536 
That which we desire inclines not to us as we would. 



62 



M 



537 

The whirlwind of competitive education uproots the 
deUcate saplings and bends sturdy trees, and those 
that withstand the twisting are somewhat blemished 
from having passed through such rough experience. 

538 
Death is the most beautiful gift of a Divine Father 
to immortal children. 

539 

Our thoughts, like carrier-pigeons, ever will home- 
ward fly. 

540 
There is no place where the flowers of poetry and 
romance more freely abound than in the fields of 
ruralness ; yet they are not so much plucked by the 
yeomanry as by erstwhile visitors who are enchanted 
and write of their enchantment. 

541 

Liberty is the exercise and not the abuse of privileges. 

542 
Intense thought bringeth about that which we would 
or that which we would not. 

543 

The most sorrowful of all expressed thought is that 
concerning the passing of man. 

544 

Carry a lamp before thee in a dark way. Prudence 
prevents many a false step. 

545 
If thou art at peace with thyself, thou must be at 
peace with the whole world. 

546 
The sequel of wrongdoing is written by time and 
consequences. 



63 



547 

QERADVENTURE thou meetest defeat in thy 
wanderings, let it not become thy mental guest 
for the space of a day, but say to it, " Keep 
thee behind me always, and let not mine eye rest 
upon thee nor thy hand to cover mine own." 

548 
The distance is no longer to happiness than to unhap- 
piness if thou takest the right road. 

549 
Be gentle toward another's faults, but severe as thou 
mayest please toward thine own. 

550 
A fragment of truth is the discovery of every age. 

551 
It is a test of fortitude to be a true friend to a false 
friend, and a test of strength to uphold an enemy 
even in right doing. 

552 

The birds of the air and the beasts of the field love 
repose more than turmoil, and in this respect they 
present a lesson to mankind. 

553 

To better thy condition, better thy thoughts. 

554 
To gain thy freedom, ask the assistance of thy reason. 

555 

Whenever a thought ripens in heaven it falls to earth. 

556 
A cunning device to encourage the timorous : a new 
thought tied to an old handle — the familiarity of the 
one soon familiarizes the other. 

557 
Serenity belongeth only to him who patiently earns it. 



64 



M 



558 
Strictly guard thy vocabulary and cast out any 
unclean word thou mayest find in thy collection. 

559 
Whithersoever a man traveleth in his mind that is 
his soul's destination. 

560 

Destruction followeth vice as closely as a dog follow- 
eth his master. 

561 
Let no one persuade thee that sin is cheap : thou 
mayest have to pay for it with thy life. 

562 
Diversion helpeth the mind to assimilate care. 

563 
Poetry is the blossom and prose the strong branches 
of the giant tree of literature. 

564 

Life is eternity and eternity is life. 

565 
He who maketh a grimace at adversity mocketh his 
teacher. 

566 
He lives in trouble who lives in knavery. 

567 
He who loveth honor and abideth in it loveth God and 
abideth in Him. 

568 
If thou hast not taken a step upward today, thou hast 
not performed thy God-given work. 

569 
If thou wilt meet difficulties cheerfully, thou wilt 
find them less disagreeable. 

570 
Sincerity hath not need of flattery. 



65 



y 



571 

^w^HEN a cow yieldeth not her milk, to kick her 
vly availeth nothing, but the milker trieth gentler 
^^^ means, and when a schemer trieth for thy 

money he useth persuasion until, if thou resembles t 

the cow, thou fiUest his measure. 

572 
The great camera of life catches every thought and 
feeling of man upon its sensitized plates for preser- 
vation. 

573 
He who would add to his own stature must build at 
the top. 

574 
If thou wilt forget the evil-doing of others, thou canst 
better attend to the purification of thine own life. 

575 
If Fate should knock at thy door with ill tidings, 
meet it with a calm countenance, though thy tears be 
blood and thy heart an altar of sacrifice. 

576 
Say to the South Wind, ** 'T is well," and to the 
North Wind, " 'T is well," and to the zephyrs that 
blow annoyances into thy dooryard, ** Thou canst 
not harm, for I am with God the Divine One." 

577 
No one can love the Great Father without learning 
something of the Great Mother. 

578 
To lie upon the breast of Nature and listen to her 
wonderful stories is both helpful and restful. 

579 
Vex not thyself because of ungodliness. Godliness will 
come with understanding, and understanding with 
the evolution of time, until all men are undefiled. 



66 



580 

'^"TT^F a man's religion holdeth him responsible for 
I his every act, it maketh him careful of his 
'^ ^ conduct ; but if it point a loophole whereby he 
may escape the penalty of broken laws, it maketh 
him more careless of deportment. 

581 
Greatness begins where littleness ends. 

582 

The work of all thinkers is separating facts from 
fiction. 

583 
He that perceiveth a beam in a brother's eye and 
asketh another to remove it showeth somewhat of 
cowardice. 

584 
Beset as thou art, O mortal with temptations, listen 
to morality and be spared the pain of a fall. 

585 
Listen, O youth, to the voice of Divinity that dwelleth 
within. Feebly at first will it address thee; but as 
thou gainest virtues it will become stronger and at 
length will boldly direct thee to God. 

586 

He that leadeth another into darkness shall at length 
lose his own way. 

587 
Sympathy uplifteth hope and saveth from despair. 

588 

Grateful will be a long day of peace that will come to 
faithful and patient workers after the turmoil of 
€arth is abandoned. 

589 
When the guilty are exposed, they do not try to hide 
themselves behind Satan, but endeavor to cover 
themselves with the white robe of innocence. 



67 



590 
Light thy countenance with a smile, and thou canst 
keep despondency at bay indefinitely. 

591 
The first fruits of sin are not so bitter as the last 
plucking. 

592 
When in need of advice, question thy reason and 
beware of that which conflicts with it. 

593 
When the road to wealth forks, consult thy con- 
science. 

594 
Wisdom is preferable to experience : they who have 
the first need not the last. 

595 
Boldness robbeth modesty of speech and driveth to 
cover the half-fledged utterances of timidity. 

596 

J Perfection is only to be found at the end of a very 
long road, eternity. 

597 
Unfortunate is he who hath sufficient conceit to 
conceal his faults from his own vision. 

598 
The cloak of religion is as many-colored as Joseph's 
coat. 

599 

The absence of egotism indicates the absence of self- 
ishness, for where one is there is the other also. 

600 

Vulgar curiosity though diligent gathers few facts. 

601 

To be vain of thy gifts is to be vain of thyself. To be 
glad of thy gifts is thanksgiving. 



68 



602 
y^n/O become acquaint with thyself, ask thyself as 
^ J many questions each day as thou canst shape, 
^^^ and insist upon having a clear answer. In this 
way wilt thou become aware of thy deficiencies and 
thou wilt be astonished at the number. 

603 
If thou canst find a man and a woman in all the world 
whose lives are without an imperfection, thou mayest 
•deify them, for they are as God. 

604 

Whatever seemeth wrong thou shouldst not do in 
haste. 

605 

If possible wait until the fog lifts before unmooring 
thy boat. 

606 
Beware of accepting from him who boasteth of his 
generosity, or thy pride will be much battered. 

607 
Whenever thou findest a bright mind let it shine upon 
thine own to light some dark comer. 

608 
To raise thyself above thy surroundings thou must 
leap into the great world of mind. 

609 

Be sparing of vain regret and generous of good intent. 

610 
Whithersoever thou mayest go, the ghost of the past 
will glide beside thee, making thy heaven or thy hell. 

611 
Iniquity abhors frankness. 

612 
Whomsoever death severs death will again unite. 



69 



613 
^^s^HOU mayest perform contemptibly in private, 
C^) thinking no eye beholdeth, but there is never 
^^^ an hour when thou art unattended; therefore 
let thy acts be honorable and decorous as when in. 
public, lest shame confront thee in the hereafter* 

614 
Discretion and Indiscretion never go a-Maying 
together. 

615 
When giving reproof let it be unmixed with sarcasm.. 

616 
When sharing the home of another, assume no control 
of its management, lest thou be outgeneraled thyself 
and have to beg for quarter. 

617 
A generous giver is he who gives when return is 
impossible and publicity improbable. 

618 
When the fat is in the fire it is too late to caution, 

619 

The ladder of fame is hard to climb, and a misstep 
will bring thee to the ground in a twinkling. 

620 

Though the scars of adversity be deep, thou canst 
conceal them with cheerfulness. 

621 
The soul is illumined by a process known only to the 
minority. 

622 
Hope will make the poor rich — for without it the 
rich are poor. 

623 

If man assume control over the beasts, how much 
more should he assume control over himself ! 



70 



624 

If thy dog love thee he hath something of God in him. 

625 
If to an angelic state thouwouldst aspire, thou wilt arise. 

626 
To keep thy life pure thou must filter thy thoughts. 

627 
The quickest way to forget gloom is to think upon joy. 
Difficult it is, but try it and thou wilt find this pleasant 
remedy efficacious. 

628 
Let thy life be such that every act and thought might 
be transferred to a clean page and thou not blush for 
the reading. 

^ 629 

When earth enters the silent chambers of night she 
does not slumber, but busies herself till the morning 
with her abundant duties. 

630 
He that lifteth himself saveth another much trouble. 

631 
It may be well to drop a little good seed in your 
neighbor's field occasionally, but do not harrow his 
ground without permission. 

632 

Thou shouldst not endeavor to convince thy enemy 
that he was wrong yesterday, for thou turnest him 
into the past, when thou shouldst lead him this day 
into the tomorrow. 

633 
Though thou attack every religion of earth, thou 
canst not attack God. 

634 
The record of life is marked not by hours but by 
thoughts ; not by days but by progress. 



71 



635 
W^HEREFORE is it commendable to work before 
r IT the dawn or after the night cometh? 'T is 
Nature that marks the time for man's rest, 
therefore let him obey to prolong his years — let him 
not cut from the night nor add to the day. 

636 
If a man live a lie, he hath no part with peace. 

637 
Why complain that the world is all bad, if thou thy- 
self art good ? 

638 
When the sword is whetted. Peace is unhappy. 

639 

Every soul must some day travel the road to Glory. 

640 

The Great Lawgiver permits no man to violate the 
law without meting out full penalty to the violator, 
and no subterfuge whatsoever availeth when thine 
own act has marked thee for punishment. 

641 
The minutest particle of matter is doing its work as 
faithfully as the most conspicuous, and in so doing is 
God's helper. 

642 
The length and breadth of our conscience is measured 
by our understanding. 

643 
Hades might be turned to heaven were the Will made 
ruler over the passions. 

644 

A generation of unbelievers maketh a generation of 
inquirers. 

645 
When fortune smiles, the world endeavors to please. 



72 



646 

Fast and furious rides temper, but calmness always 
wins the race. 

647 
Alas ! how fickle is indecision : it bloweth North today, 
South tomorrow, and peradventure on the third day 
it bloweth not at all. 

648 
Sorrow and joy are to the mind what light and dark- 
ness are to the body. 

649 
He who runs a race with adversity often runs with a 
friend in disguise. 

650 
The greatest good that can befall a glutton is the 
loss of appetite. 

651 
That which makes war possible makes civilization 
impossible. 

652 

ll'hat which inflames the passions deadens the soul, 
and that which deadens the soul diminishes its 
capacity to enjoy its privileges. 

653 
Slay not. He who taketh that which he can not 
replace stealeth from God. 

654 
The freedom of a nation depends upon the unselfish- 
ness of its people. 

655 

When the night cometh on, let Peace abide with thee 
till the morning, and then if thou must battle let 
principle incite thee and not prejudice. 

656 
So fair is youth that age seemeth plain, but so rich 
is age that youth seemeth poor. 



73 



657 

The luster of virtue can not be restored when tarnished. 

658 
Even upon the rugged mountains and the face of the 
tossing sea is written law, and chaos is nowhere per- 
mitted. 

659 
When overcoming misfortunes, perseverance is thy 
best ally. 

660 
The reproof of the wicked begetteth contempt, but 
a word from the exemplary benefiteth. 

661 
Abundant love attracts abundant love, and hatred 
adds to itself also. 

662 
No one finds peace without searching for it. 

663 

When suspicion watches innocence, it harms it, for 
it suggests that guilt is there. 

664 
Each has within him all he needs to develop perfec- 
tion, and the acquirement of knowledge and the 
right use of it will be the manner of unfolding. 

665 

Walk the earth with a lamp in each hand and a head- 
light on thy brow, that thou mayest see thine own 
way and guide thy neighbor. 

666 
When thy temper is blazing run after water instead 
of coal. 

667 

To believe in the power of good to overcome all evil 
is to believe in moral evolution, which will right all 
wrong and perfect all things in time. 



74 



668 
One must needs hunt for dishonesty where honesty- 
is so fearless that it walketh in the open. 

669 
Think not that thou canst revile without setting the 
shafts of malice in motion against thyself. 

670 
Begin the day in peace and fear to meet the night in 
anger. 

671 
Wherever thou findest perseverance thou may est 
look for success. 

672 

Fortune at last favors most those who love best the 
things that can not be bought and sold. 

673 
The tenderest ties of the human heart are severed by 
death with apparent indifference ; but if God directs 
and He is love, all is done with kindness. 

674 
The road of progress lies straight across the wastes 
of prejudice. 

675 
Civilization has been a swifter runner than religion 
in preceding centuries, and what has been will be 
until superstitions shall pass away. 

676 
Let thy days be full of pleasure and let thy pleasure 
be the doing of right. 

677 
They who walk life's journey know more of the way 
than they who ride. 

678 
Begin early in life to put thy patience to the test, for 
thou wilt need it when years advance upon thee. 



75 



679 
^v^ERE there no message from the undiscovered 
vly country there would be no belief in immortal- 
^^^ ity; but the waves of thought that surge 
between the seen and the unseen world keep alive 
that beautiful hope. 

680 

Whatever thou dost for the benefit of the world thou 
dost for thine own glory, for thine is the reward 
though thou mayest have passed the border-land ere 
thy work is appreciated or praised. 

681 
Love of country is a noble love, and when thou 
lovest thine own as thou oughtest, thou wilt not covet 
another's birthright nor seek to wrest it from him by 
violence or strategy. 

682 

There is a right and a wrong side to every day. 

683 

Complaint is discord and discord is disease. 

684 
Let thy hands be full of kindness and lay them gently 
upon sorrow. 

685 
Verily if a man will to do right, there is a way to do 
right. 

686 
Let us think it will be as well with another in the here- 
after as we would have it with ourselves. 

687 
Cast the same eye upon thyself as thou dost upon 
another and thou wilt be more merciful in thy judg- 
ment. 

688 
Whenever thou art scratched by a tattler, clear thy- 
self, but do not continue the fight. 



76 



689 
Each soul builds a solid wall of individualism round 
about itself and is securely entrenched behind the 
impregnable ramparts. 

690 

Inasmuch as ye make discord will thy life be dis- 
cordant. 

691 

O Vanity! how weak art thou in the presence of 
worth and how exceeding small ! 

692 
Lest temptation conquer thee, give it no quarter. 

693 

Though thou mayest look into the windows of thy 
friend's character many times, thou wilt never 
behold him as he truly is. 

694 
It is a ridiculous blunder to estimate a man for what 
he has, rather than for what he is. The one is his coat, 
the other himself. 

695 

The backbiter must sooner or later die from his own 
poison. 

696 

Inasmuch as we can not judge righteously, it were a "^ 
sin to judge at all. 

697 
If it is a misfortune to die by accident, what can be 
said of accidental birth ? 

698 
We come into an understanding of morals when we 
open the holy book of Nature. 

699 

Dignity frowns. upon the talebearer. 

700 
When praise is due, bitterness follows censure. 



77 



1/ 



701 
j^^ELL me, ye winged winds, whither my soul 
^ J shall be wafted when it departs the flesh. Will 
^^^ it be to a city of gold or to the deep woods? 
Will it sing forever or will it work ? Will it still expand 
or will it shrink with monotony? Will it gather 
knowledge or will it retrograde ? Will it be true to its 
individual existence, or will it be swallowed by the 
great I ? Will it be happy, or will it be sad ? Will there 
be night and morn, or midday eternally? Will it be 
amongst the wise that I shall stand, or will it be with 
hungry children who crave instruction? Shall I be 
less because my brother is more? Shall I be content 
to be as I am? Nay, Nay, O winged winds, I answer 
nay — I will not be content to be as I am, neither 
shall I be swallowed up in the vortex of souls, but I 
shall stand alone, alone forever in a great and grow- 
ing world — I shall love and I shall be loved — I shall 
instruct and I shall be instructed — I shall lead and 
I shall be led ; I shall sing and I shall work — I shall 
know and I shall be known. I shall be happy and 
I shall be necessary to another's happiness. I shall be 
glad, and all will be glad that they are of use in the 
great structure and that they will be put in place by 
the hand of the master builder. 

702 
Charity springeth from the heart — therefore is con- 
trolled more by emotion than by reason. 

703 
When the fruit is falling from the tree of knowledge, 
be not so far away that none will fall into thy recep- 
tacle. 

704 
Sorrow maketh a man bow his thoughts though his 
head rove in the air. 

705 
Gold opens for mankind gates of destruction that 
would otherwise remain forever closed. 



78 



^ 



706 
^^:^HERE is a morning and an evening to every 
C^^ experience — sometimes it is the sunrise that 
^^^ is pleasant and the evening that is gloomy, or 
the early hour may be a mist and the sunset a golden 
glory. 

707 
The pleasantest way out of this world is through the 
gateway of love. 

708 
It is vain to expect gigantic results from timid efforts. 

709 
The weaker are not protected by the stronger by a 
course of reasoning, but by the flow of circumstances 
are they aided or crushed* 

710 
So commercial is Lust that it puts a price on virtue. 

711 
When a person is steeped in worldliness the process 
well-nigh destroys the germs of soul growth. 

712 
Thoughts like a flock of swallows dart so rapidly 
before the mind's eye that it is difficult to follow a 
single one to its home. 

713 
A light heart maketh a light head, for when the 
thoughts are deep we incline more to contemplation 
than to exultation. 

714 
Knowledge maketh a man unassuming where igno- 
rance maketh him bold. 

715 
If thou hast overmuch talent and no application, 
success is further from thee than if thou hadst over- 
much application and less talent. 



79 



716 

XAM adding to my religious temple daily, and 
as my foundation is reason I know its strength 
and I intend to build higher than the Tower of 
Babel, and not put on the dome until I reach the other 
worlds. 

717 
When all men have learned not to be selfish tyranny 
will end. 

718 
In future ages when all shall know the truth and 
practise it, the earth will be the abode of angels and 
Jacob's dream be realized. 

719 
The day of judgment is not when God judges men, 
but when man judges himself, and pronounces his 
soul clean or unclean. 

720 
I search for words, but I find them not, to express my 
admiration for all that is beautiful, good and true. 

721 
In the quiet and pleasant vales of life it is fair to 
linger, but the soul is never deeply stirred within the 
confines of peace and plenty. 

722 

Happiness is not obtained by supplication, but by 
delightful labor. 

723 
According to the will is the circumference of thought 
expanded or contracted. 

724 

The best that we can say of others is that they are 
doing as well as they know. 

725 
The first step toward evil is the beginning of sorrow. 



80 



726 
^TT^HEN a man tells me that the Holy Word of God is 
r I y contained within the covers of a printed book, 
^^^ and that he can carry it about in his pocket, 
I do not laugh, neither do I call him a liar or a fool ; 
but I pray that the light of reason may enter his 
mind until he can see that God's book is too large for 
a pocket edition, that it is larger than the universe, 
and yet not complete. 

727 
When the voice of conscience cries aloud at the door 
of the soul, the wicked will not admit it, but drive it 
away with continued sinfulness. 

728 
To get a true view of ourselves we must stand before 
the revolving mirror of introspection every day, not 
to admire, but to criticize and improve. 

729 

Let it be remarked by every one that you are above 
your business, whatever it may be. 

730 
The rainbow set in the heavens does not give me 
promise that no more shall the waters cover the earth, 
but it shows me that where there is light there is 
beauty. 

731 
Sleep, weary form, sleep, that my spirit may go out 
into the mysterious night to commune with its kind ! 

732 
Fatigue is the sequence of error. 

733 
Gainsay it, if you can, that mental slavery is pref- 
erable to liberty or that any teaching calculated to 
bind the mind could not with benefit be supplanted 
by instruction in ethics to the exclusion of creeds. 



81 



734 

XT is best for us to wear our garments right side 
out to avoid comment, and for like reason it 
were better not to put the seamy part of our 
nature on the outside where every one can observe 
its roughness. 

735 
In the fulness of time we may know what manner of 
men we are, but now we can only look and wonder 
at ourselves and follow ancient advice, until our 
lesson is learned. 

736 
To persecute reason is to insult divinity. 

737 
Lift up your minds, O beloved, into the stillness of 
the Great I Am. 

738 
Listen, if need be, to complaint, but add not your own. 

739 
Profitable advice is seldom given except for love or 
money. 

740 
Behold the friendship of poverty and indolence. 

741 
If thou thinkest well thou wilt do well, for the thought 
and the act are not far apart. 

742 
Let not sloth rob thee of thy inheritance of health. 

743 
If thou livest this day well, tomorrow will hold no 
terrors and yesterday no remorse. 

744 
That the finite mind may at some remote period of 
its journey meet infinity is not impossible — when, 
how or where, we would not speak. 



82 



745 

OYE of imprudent imagination, why picture 
God sitting upon a great white throne in the 
pose and likeness of little man? O beloved, 
talk no more of a despot, nor place the Universal 
•God upon a chair. 

746 
Let the thought-force that we each day extend be of 
a quality that will be creative of our ideal. 

747 
The outlook for religion at the present time is 
^encouraging, for when there is much doubt concern- 
ing the old there is much inquiry for the new. 

748 
The basest mentality could be raised to an exalted 
plane by an education that would call forth the higher 
and compel the lower propensities to lie dormant 
until too weak to respond to evil. 

749 
If I be afraid of God I be afraid of life. 

750 
It is easier to warm a castle than a cold heart within it. 

751 
When a cat sits by a rat-hole the inference is not that 
she is dreaming of former conquests, but that she 
awaits with hope. 

752 
The great circle of light is without break or joining 
from Alpha to Omega. 

753 
Weightier than heavy chains upon the body is 
Tradition upon the mind. 

754 
Truth and science are upon such friendly terms that 
each is a support to the other. 



83 



m 



755 
^AN feels a sense of security in the civilization 
of great cities, yet with it his personal safety 
is not materially enhanced nor is he secure 
against the wolves in wool who prowl about, nor 
hath he immunity from the temptations that beset 
his every turning. 

756 
A threefold blessing rests upon the good : the pleasure 
of being good, of doing good, and of receiving good. 

757 
To reason from a false premise is to travel from the 
truth as fast as the tongue can run. 

758 
If the axles of matrimony are well lubricated with the 
oil of wisdom, the wheels of time will run smoother 
and squeak less. 

759 
The brightest spot in the mind of man is reason — 
the dullest, gluttony. 

760 
Perversity leadeth a man to misfortune. 

761 
As intelligence increases, intolerance decreases; and 
the time will come when men will altogether abandon 
persecution — understanding that diversity of opinion 
leadeth to knowledge. 

762 
If peradventure thy friend of today becomes thy 
enemy tomorrow, be not dismayed, but say to thyself 
and to him, " If I am worthy thy love and thou art 
worthy of mine, naught of a trivial nature can keep 
us long asunder." 

763 
Love apart from Godliness can not live. 

764 
Victory hath not on earth a permanent home. 



84 



765 
^TY^ORDS that are lisped in prayer by children 
r 1 1 reach further, methinks, into the realm of spirit 
^^ than the studied phrases of theologians — there- 
fore teach the innocent to ask for that which will 
help them to grow wise ; tell them that the truth lies 
about them awaiting their use of it. 

766 
Intelligence is not so exacting of its brother as 
ignorance. 

767 
Croppings are only promises — to know thy friend's 
worth thou must dig deeper than the surface. 

768 
The God of Liberty is neither the God of ceremonies 
nor of creeds. 

769 
Great pearls of truth are the price of many years and 
of many lives. 

770 
When conscience smites thee, halt or the next blow 
may land thee in a purgatory of regret from which 
escape is not made in a day nor yet in a century. 

771 
The testimony of fools is of no importance, neither 
is the advice of a coward of value ; therefore, if not 
able to weigh and measure for thyself, ask the 
assistance of the wise. 

772 
The pictures that we draw of others have a resem- 
blance, however slight, to ourselves. 

773 
The flower of true friendship is absence. 

774 
It is a fair day when friends compliment our every 
act, but a stormy one ^hen they frown. 



85 



775 

HET my feet be shod with mercy and love and 
may sympathy abide in my breast when I go 
amongst the children of earth that are smitten, 
by adversity, for then will I acceptably take to them 
that which they need in their night of sorrow, and 
then, O God, Thou wilt not reprove thy servant for 
making of charity a farce. 

776 
God spake unto me this day saying, " Thine heart 
is not quite attuned to my holy law ; therefore, attend 
to thy defects or thou wilt make discord." 

777 
The reign of beauty ceases when the reign of lust 
commences. 

778 
Albeit thou art mortal thou art also immortal and 
must live uprightly each day, then wilt thou find, 
pleasure all along the way. 

779 
The recovery of a lost reputation is as doubtful as the 
recovery of a lost pearl. 

780 
The wail of the few is not the cry of the multitude*^ 

781 
The laugh of the maniac frightens and the laugh of the 
humorist amuses ; therefore it is not the outward 
expression of mirth but the inward condition of mind 
that effects. 

782 
Fashion ridicules poverty and poverty laughs when, 
fashion has a fall. 

783 
Adversity divideth the sheep from the goats in the 
social pastures. 

784 
Never frighten ambition by parading obstacles.. 



86 



785 

VICE in its encounter with religion is triumphant 
to this day, for though religions do not like it 
they can not destroy it in its own territory,, 
neither can they win it over to theirs, but some day, 
when science controls religion it will instruct it in- 
truer ways of reform and make it conform to natural 
principles and instead of leaning on the past it will 
be willing to listen to the present and thus prepare 
for the future. 

786 
Lisp not of thy defects lest they be magnified by the 
public eye, but whilst thou art striving to cure them,, 
conceal them. 

787 
The view we take of another's motives is frequently^ 
an exhibition of our own. 

788 
Alas ! what can be done to make the poor men rich 
and the rich men happy. 

789 
Whenever Satan comes to the front drive him to the rear.. 

790 
The most delicate advice is many times rejected 
because the giver calls it by that name. 

791 
If thou showest no displeasure when thou art pained 
and no pleasure when thou art pleased, thou art like^ 
a dumb clock whose face is a cheat, 

792 
When thou art in a sea of trouble call for help, and 
thy cry will be answered from the interior of thy soul' 
where there is always calm, though the waters foam 
on the surface. 

793 
It is the fate of the young and the old that they meet: 
the Reaper alone and none escape a like encounter. 



8r 



794 
^^cHE gateway of heaven is never closed and yet 
^ J many miss it and enter the adjoining place; 
^^^ but as there is no peace for the wicked, they 
will eventually grow weary and inquire the way to 
heaven, which is the Mecca that each soul finds 
within its own domain, be it now or be it then. 

795 
When the story is large, weigh it carefully and then 
weigh the narrator. 

796 
Decay is the immediate result of vice. 

797 
Find no fault with virtue however awkward. 

798 
When thy conscience begins to prick thee, ascertain 
at once the cause and remove it. 

799 
In the decline of life keep thy mind fixed on the rising 
of tomorrow's sun and then wilt thou always be 
cheerful and young. 

800 
Keep to simplicity as long as thy good sense lasts and 
resort to mannerisms only when it is gone. 

801 

Fast and furious is the lash of fashion's whip over the 
back of society. 

802 
The blending of two souls into one is done only in 
God's laboratory. Priests and magistrates have tried 
and failed. 

803 
To him who can prophesy the future must be ascribed 
a sixth sense, and time will demonstrate whether he 
have it or whether he guesses. 



88 



804 

^^s^HE birds, the butterflies, the bees and all winged 
^ J creatures seem to live on a more pleasant plane 
^^^ of life than the grubs and the crawling things ; 
but who can say that they are happier, for is not each 
attending to duty and filling its own sphere acceptably ? 

805 

The waves of prejudice beat higher in uncultivated 
minds. 

806 

Rectitude of body and mind bring thee into a reali- 
zation of true living unknown to them who crawl 
upon the earth through the mire of sense gratification. 

807 

The true value of discipline is known only to the 
disciplined who have been lashed into obedience by 
reason. 

808 

There is no short cut to wisdom; there is but one 
broad road and few there be who tread it. 

809 

Thought is somewhat tinted by its surroundings, but 
its quality is determined by its projector. 

810 
To view thyself in thy worst act would deprive thee 
of all vanity; but not thy sins but thy graces are 
commonly uppermost in thy mind, and so vanity 
continueth. 

811 

The right to criticize belongs to the century and 
progression demands it. 

812 
Though a man change his habits between night and 
morning he can not so quickly change his character. 

813 

When the sun of earthly life goes down on a mis- 
spent life the spiritual sun will rise on a misspent life. 



89 



814 

XT is neither for you nor me to say who will be 
happiest in the day of their demise, nor, if the 
life has been just, have we grounds for thinking 
that any soul is miserable in the next world, though 
the religious belief was opposed to our own or though 
there was none at all over which to contend. 

815 
Deception is in vain, for every act of life is graven on 
the tablets of eternity, where some day they can be 
read by friend and foe. 

816 

The major part of the human family are and will be 
plodders ; the minor are and will remain thinkers. 

817 
The finality of knowledge will never be reached 
unless Divine energy becomes aweary and stops work. 

818 

Much that is believed today will be abandoned 
tomorrow, and man will have to run to keep pace 
with the knowledge that is to be given to his keeping 
within a decade. 

819 
When the parson declares that a ticket to heaven 
can be obtained at his church only, his commercial 
instincts become apparent. 

820 
When the eyelids are heavy with weeping, the mind 
is too drowsy for action. 




90 



BOOK THREE 



i 


S 




1 


^ 


^B 


i 


® 




^st 


i?^o^ 


:^^^S 



821 

CCORDING to prophecy it is the 
dawning of a new cycle. The 
a heavens declare that a new Christ 
shall appear. Not any preceding 
saviors shall again manifest in the 
flesh, nor yet a God, but the future 
is to be the fruition of the past, a 
summary of all that has been, and 
the adding to of much that has 
not been. Another round has been climbed on the 
ladder of evolution — a Jacob's dream interpreted for 
the Twentieth Century. It is the electric age of 
Spirituality, in which new revelations of man's pos- 
sibilities are perceived, and instead of one savior, 
every man and woman who is illumined by truth will 
be a savior unto themselves and unto others, which 
is the end of old things and the beginning of new. 
The new Christ, which is the blending of all past 
truth with the highest present conception of truth, 
is the long-expected Messiah. 

822 

If you defy Nature's demands she will call you an 
imbecile and proceed to make you one. 

823 

Spend a morning hour with the sages and a late one 
with the soul and thou mayest be trusted to spend 
the interim with profit and decorum. 

824 
When we bow to the inevitable we acknowledge 
obedience to law. 

825 

Many are the deep seams and scars on the face of 
Nature, corresponding to those of the character in its 
evolution. 

826 

As Spring gives promise and Autumn fulfilment, let 
the fact be regarded as true of life. 



93 



827 
^^:;^HE secret of long life has never been revealed, 
^ J and they who have attained it have not been 
^^^ more careful than they who have not, which 
would suggest that man's days are numbered by his 
Maker and that he passeth out when the hand of 
time points the hour that he is expected to arrive at 
his destination. 

828 
The good is more enduring than the bad and eventu- 
ally will control all things. 

829 
Homely virtues are more lovable than handsome 
evils. 

830 
I looked into the heart of a flower today and there I 
saw graven the name of its Maker. 

831 
When high life delights in low life it depends upon 
fashion to conceal its foulness, but forgets the cunning 
of its own soul to expose wrongdoing even at the 
twelfth hour. 

832 

Frugality is the lane leading to abundance. 

833 
When marching under the banner of religion, equal 
rights are alas ! too often forgotten. 

834 

Don't act a fool if you can help it ; but if you can't, 
don't be offended if called by your right name. 

835 
Less energy is expended to start a fight than to 
quell it. 

836 

When we want bread let us pray for knowledge where- 
with to earn it. 



94 



837 

CONCERNING the law and the prophets much 
has been written ; but concerning the new law 
and the new prophets, more will be written 
that will accord strictly with the newly revealed laws 
of science, health and future existence. 

838 
Somewhere in this small world is a mind that vibrates 
with thine own, and at the meeting each recognizes 
that affinity of thought is the strongest tie that binds. 

839 
O blessed death, that closes our days that our infir- 
mities be not increased ! 

840 
Conscience is the divine electrician that touches the 
button to alarm the soul of unholy approach. 

841 

To tell the people they are followers and not thinkers, 
offends them ; but when they attempt to disprove it, 
they prove it. 

842 

So little of truth has been discovered that there is 
not enough to satisfy the needs of the human family ; 
but time will add to the supply, and some day they 
will have sufficient to make them wise and lovely. 

843 

There is a well of love in the heart which must be 
constantly drawn from to keep it sweet. 

844 

When thy mind is stayed on religion, thou mayest 
do evil ; but when thy mind is stayed on righteousness, 
thou forgettest evil. 

845 
Crashing through space is the thunder of progress, 
and the forked lightning of knowledge is clearing the 
atmosphere of ignorance. 



95 



846 
^^*/0 make a scapegoat of innocence seems mean, 
^ J and to pile a greater load on guilt seems cruel. 
^^^ What therefore can we do to appease con- 
science than to carry our own sins to judgment and 
receive the full penalty for breaking the laws of our 
being? 

847 
The liberal mind scattereth lavishly the thoughts 
that make men free. 

848 

Do not climb a tree before you see the bear. 

849 

There is too much ease in the lap of luxury, and those 
privileged to sit at will become too puny to walk the 
rugged road that leads to independence and con- 
tentment. 

850 

The wide world's neglected lesson — the value of self- 
denial. 

851 

Verily, what profiteth authority in the hands of a 
hermit? 

852 
Conjugal felicity abideth long with love, but will not 
tarry with lust. 

853 
He that carryeth a thought to slay a brother staineth 
his soul with murder though he refrain from the act. 

854 
It is as wrong for intelligence to think evil as for 
ignorance to do evil. 

855 
Be generous to thy intellect, but keep thy passions 
hungry. 

856 
If thine eye be offended, do not pluck it out, but use 
it for correcting the offense it beholds. 



96 



857 

HITERATURE sings merrily adown the ages; 
it pipes the lay of the minstrel ; it chants of 
religion ; it warbles of peace and intones of 
war, but its sweetest songs are of undying love that 
are learned by each succeeding generation. 

858 

A legend satisfies until the truth is revealed. 

859 
A handsome bride maketh a vain husband, but a 
homely one maketh him speak her virtues. 

860 

As a spider spins a web to entrap a fly, so does a liar 
spin a story to ensnare the credulous. 

861 

Be provident today if thou wouldst have ease tomor- 
row. 

862 

So order thine own life that thou wilt be a living 
copy of the law. 

863 

What more delightful than the companionship of the 
heroes and heroines of literature — their willingness 
to talk with us makes them indeed precious when 
inclemency separates us from the outer world. 

864 

The most serious thoughts that occupy the attention 
of a man are his own possibilities. 

865 
Never permit thyself to be robbed for the chance it 
may give thee of discovering the thief. 

866 
The undeveloped faculties of man are many, and one 
by one they will spring up as evolution prepares the 
soil to grow them. 



97 



867 

CHOU art the painter of thine own portrait 
which is to be exhibited in the universal 
gallery ; thou art each day adding some color 
or changing a feature, sometimes disfiguring and 
sometimes improving the work — the likeness will be 
true to thy character if not to thy ideal. 

868 
Nothing exceeds the immodesty of prudery searching 
for immodesty. 

869 

When brighter light and newer inspiration shall 
penetrate the catacombs of past religious conceptions, 
much that has been adored will be abolished. 

870 
When the heart is pierced by a sharp tongue, how 
difficult to hide the pain, yet it is essential to conceal 
the wound lest we be struck again in the same place. 

871 
When the soul desires to withdraw from its physical 
tabernacle, it presses the eyelids in slumber and its 
flight and return are unseen. 

872 
A cleverly trained athlete can be overcome by the 
smallest vice that he may challenge. 

873 

Never have there been so many isms as now, and never 
so much of truth and individual growth. 

874 
Hasty judgments are not recorded by wisdom. 

875 
Not all are willing to crowd at the heels of fashion, 
but those who do are inclined to laugh at those who 
do not, who in turn pity those who follow the profit- 
less task. 



98 




876 
f AYEST thou that one who doeth wrong and 
another who doeth right shall become sharers 
in the same future, simply because they are 
sharers in the same faith ? Nay, it can not be, for their 
minds are in opposite directions and lead to different 
conditions. 

877 
A few trembling leaves ever cling to the branches of 
Winter, which look so lifeless and cold that they give 
no pleasure, but turn backward the mind to the 
Summer that is past as they moan in the chill 
wind," I am dying, I am dead." 

878 
Be good to thyself and treat thy neighbor as thyself. 

879 

The voice of Nature calls gently to her wayward 
children, but at last she punishes severely all those 
who persist in disobeying her commands. 

880 
Let peace reign in thy mind from the rising of the 
East sun till the going down of the West sun, and in 
the darkness shall no discord trouble thee. 

881 
The wise husband will confer with his wife in domestic 
matters before putting into operation all the energy 
of his masculine opinion. 

882 
Most frequently a hard heart accompanies a soft 
hand. 

883 

The face concealed behind the mask of death is a 
smiling face. 

884 
Stand your ground when it is prudent, but when a 
bull is running toward you it is safer to vault the fence. 



99 



885 

y^cHE careless man speaks as familiarly of God as. 
C) of a neighbor ; but the reverent are willing to 
^^■^ confess their ignorance of the characteristics, 
wishes or intent of Divinity and are willing to draw 
lessons from human experiences. The question thea 
forwards : Why should one of two good men profess 
to know all about a personal God when the other 
honestly admits that there is no way whereby infor- 
mation may be obtained? 

886 

Verily he that runneth after novelty runneth fast 
and in a circle — where he starteth in the mom there 
arriveth he at nightfall. 

887 
Woe unto him who revileth with his tongue and from 
whose lips profanity falleth with ease, for his own 
words shall ensnare his mind and make unclean the 
abiding-place of his spirit. 

888 
If a man breaks his word he will break any other 
pledge without compunction. 

889 
Only the happiest should espouse the gloomiest, for 
only the happiest could endure the gloomiest. 

890 
The boy is the promise of the man, and those traits, 
which govern his childhood will govern the man though 
they be concealed by embellishment. 

891 
They who follow the plain path of duty, guided by 
love, the same shall find peace at the end of this life's 
journey. 

892 
We are all sailors, and each is master of his own craft ;. 
therefore we can not blame another if we are ship- 
wrecked. 



100 



893 

OIGNITY added to virtue and honesty and this 
trinity added to wisdom would make a king 
fit to rule over men — and these qualities pos- 
sessed by all men would make all men kings and fit 
to rule themselves. 

894 

God has placed a light in every soul, but man often 
puts it out. 

895 

Great undertakings we are too apt to shun and only 
the little ones do we encounter willingly, but it is the 
great achievements that make men famous. 

896 
There is never a better time to practise economy than 
the present, for the economy of today makes thee 
rich tomorrow. 

897 
Things enduring can not be purchased cheaply ; they 
must be bought with years of toiling and the life- 
blood of many. 

898 

Conformity to law would render man perfect ; there- 
fore, it is his duty to study the science of living. 

899 
Faults are more conspicuous when ornamented with 
apologies. 

900 
The faster a coward runs from duty, the more certain 

is he to encounter it when he doubles the track. 

If 

901 

Naked came I into this world, and naked go I from 
it; yet let it not be said that I am not richer for 
having passed through it. 

902 

Measure for measure will be meted to those who 
present evil to the innocent. 



101 



903 
^^JHE civilization of the future will not be as the 
^ J civilization of the past, nor will the religion 
^^^ that is coming with it to bless mankind con- 
flict with science. Only the best of all that has been 
will be retained and the dreams of the just will come 
to pass. 

904 

Respect the I and you will respect the great I Am. 

905 
Before many generations have been added to the past 
the churches must be remodeled from cornerstone to 
spire upon the broad lines of universal brotherhood. 

906 

Penury is an inconvenience borne with little grace 
by vanity, and though pride may suffer also, it never 
causes its downfall. 

907 
Vanity and envy make the poor hate the rich. 

908 
When an ass prefers a thistle it is a foolish waste of 
time to coax him to swallow a fresh idea. 

909 

However much one may deny a truth it does not 
vary it one jot or tittle. 

910 
Little can be said in favor of silence when a great 
wrong is being perpetrated. 

911 
When asking a blessing from the angels of light, turn 
not thy face nor stretch thy hand toward the Prince 
of Darkness. 

912 
A lion in the way and a destroyer of men is he who 
opposes the freest discussion of any subject pertain- 
ing to the welfare of the human family. 



102 



913 

^v^HAT do I know of love? Ask me not, for my soul 
V 1 y s^^SS only to my soul and never to the world, 
^^^^ and should I sing to thee or thou to me we 
might sing for ages and could not understand; but 
when I whisper to mine and mine to me, two blending 
souls triumphant rise where none may hear. 

914 

Female vanity attempts to stay the hand of time by 
counting short the years, but the Great Recorder is 
never deceived by deception. 

915 
The more we study social conditions the better we 
understand them, but who will say the subject is 
mastered, for do not complexities multiply with the 
spread of civilization and the increase of wealth? 

916 

If you are poor and desire to be rich, dally not with 
indolence. 

917 
If you write but one line per diem as moved to write, 
at the age of seventy you will have a remarkable 
volume giving a glimpse of the fears, hopes and 
aspirations that have filled your days. 

918 
The universe is composed of atoms — and thou, O 
man, art an atom ; but think not meanly of thyself, 
for, however small, thou art as important in the 
arrangement of the divine plan as the archangel- 

919 
The disparagement of others brings thyself to imme- 
diate judgment. 

920 

One can not afford to harbor ill will, because one can 
not repair the damage that is wrought in the mind 
when therein confined. 



103 



921 

XT is a great distance to God if thou seest Him 
sitting in the clouds, but if He dwell in thy 
heart thou art near unto Him and it is well 
with thee in the morning and the evening, and in the 
midday thou canst enter into the holy temple and 
commune with Him. 

922 
In the night of error come thoughts that affright, 
but the morning of truth driveth them afar. 

923 

It requires great energy to drive an idea into a block- 
head. 

924 
Too little can not be learned of scandal, and no one 
should be persuaded to handle much for pleasure. 

925 
Civilization will not crucify its saviors, but will spare 
them for its teachers. 

926 

Ask a stranger to share your purse and he admires — 
ask him to divide his and he despises — this is a freak 
in human nature worthy of observation. 

927 
There is many a glorious victory won in a battle 
fought without sword or powder. 

928 
To raise a hue and cry of heresy brings the crier to 
the front, but it does not hold him there. 

929 
The great need of the hour is honesty of a kind that 
will make a man honest with himself, so that he will 
preach what he believes and practise what he preaches. 

930 

To be at peace with the world is to be at peace with 
the ruler. 



104 




931 
MIGHTY effort has ever been made to dis- 
courage the analysis of the beliefs and dogmas 
held sacred by religions, but when the tides 
of the sea are stayed by the raising of a warning 
finger, then will wise men compare no more the 
unreasonable with the reasonable. 

932 

Believe thou art going to Heaven and prepare thy- 
self for thy destination. 

933 

The loudest complaints come from the most inferior 
servitors. 

934 
Inasmuch as ye ask favors, grant them ; and if ye 
ask them not, grant them frequently to average the 
account of a poorer brother who always needs and 
has nothing to give. 

935 
It is a frightful leap from virtue to vice. 

936 

The ultimate of a soul is beyond the knowledge of a 
finite mind, and however positive the assertion it is 
guesswork. 

937 
If a man give a portion of his goods to feed the poor, 
of the remainder will his own food be rich and of 
abundant flavor. 

938 
A verbal contract witnessed by God should be bind- 
ing, but a written contract witnessed by man is safer. 

939 

The secret of patience is hope. 

940 
Teach children how to reason and they will seldom 
resort to force when men. 



105 



941 

QOVERTY is the universal plague of mankind, 
and at some distant day when it is vanquished 
men will read of the sufferings of the past and 
say to the young : '' We are not today as were other 
men in the long ago, and let us utter thanks that our 
time is now and not then." 

942 
As bold as an oyster is he who, from the seclusion of 
safety, advises blows. 

943 
A logician keepeth his mind in order for any emer- 
gency, but foolishness brayeth like a wild ass and no 
one heedeth the sound. 

944 
Give to the children much milk with their loaf, or 
they will complain of the dryness and refuse their 
daily lesson. 

945 

The substance of worlds is thought emanations from 
the Divine mind. 

946 
He who goeth to his couch in anger approaches the 
silence of sleep unsafely. 

947 
To jump from the earth to the moon would not be 
more impossible than for some minds to jump from 
an old belief to a new one. 

948 
A fuller share of joy falleth to him who perceiveth in 
his youth that the building of a character that will 
stand the temptations of time is the noblest occupa- 
tion of life. 

949 

He who wills to do good and does evil is not more 
blameworthy than he who wills to do evil and does 
good. 



106 



950 
The sails of economy should be trimmed to suit every 
wind that blows ; then whether it be the fair breezes 
of prosperity or the gales of adversity, thy bark will 
ride easily. , 

951 
Follow the thread of life through the woof of time, 
and though the weaver cast the shuttle with care and 
skill, there will be imperfect places from the first to 
the last ell. 

952 
Retribution follows evil with stealth, overtaking 
and overpowering it when all thought of danger is 
past. 

953 
I can not undo the wrong I have already done, but I 
may not do more. 

954 
The reasonableness of the new religious thought that 
is permeating the old theology is an aid to its general 
acceptance, for many there be and many more there 
will be to whom old beliefs are impossible. 

955 
Many people of today love creeds and ceremonies 
better than they love one another, and will till they put 
away childish things. 

956 
If a ruler love power more than mercy, dethrone him 
that he may not destroy. 

957 
Let us help the unfortunate without despising them, 
for therein lies our power of discriminating between 
them and their condition. 

958 
The testimony of the ages declares that man is kin 
to God and God is kin to man, and the two sounding 
the scale of life together make Divine harmony that 
is heard by ears attuned. 



107 



959 

Love and confidence abide long together if not dis- 
turbed, but when once the happy relation is molested, 
the happy relation is seldom restored. 

960 
The most profitable occupation for an idler is the 
planting of a new vineyard. 

961 

Wherever there is poverty there is misery unless 
there be virtue, that heavenly comforter that makes 
it endurable. 

962 

Continuous scolding hardens the transgressor. 

963 

Man's idea of the intercession of Divine providence 
seems to be the shaping of the natural into the 
unnatural and the unnatural into the natural. 

964 

The time and energy wasted in foolish argument 
would, if wisely directed, feed them that are hungry 
and clothe the naked. 

965 
A grain of comfort may be gleaned from the belief 
that some day the vilest sinner must become righteous 
by his own exertion. 

966 
Man has been given a boundless universe to study, 
but he may confine himself to the most obscure 
comers of it and die in ignorance if he choose. 

967 
Hallowed the ashes of our dead, but most beloved 
their arisen souls, and henceforth not in the tomb 
should we seek them but from whence they are. 

968 
That it is nearer to the well by a straight path than 
by a crooked one not all are yet convinced. 



108 



969 

The tree does not blossom at the root in darkness, but 
at the top in the sunlight — yet this simple fact in 
Nature we too often forget when studying man. It 
is not in materiality but in spirituality that beauty 
appeareth. 

970 
Man has the privilege of walking with angels of intel- 
ligence or with demons of ignorance, and his choice is 
most apparent. 

971 
It is a beautiful prospect from the mountain of hope 
overlooking the plains of despair to the fertile vales 
of prosperity. 

972 
God has planted the tree of reason in the human 
mind, that man may eat of the fruit thereof and know 
good from evil. 

973 
Pride is indigenous to the human family and there 
are many varieties, vanity being of the poisonous 
kind. 

974 
Nature punishes those who rob the night of slumber. 

975 
It is easier to feed pigs on their own level than it is to 
place the trough on the top of the hill and drive them 
up. 

976 

Suspect no evil, but be not blind to its approach, 

977 
He who begetteth a wise child blesses mankind, but 
he who begetteth a fool increaseth sorrow. 

978 
Make thyself a living example of righteousness, that 
a king be honored if thou ask him to follow thee to 
the hills of eternity. 



109 



979 
When it is cold, men moan, and when it is warm, they 
groan; yet if men were consulted concerning the 
weather, they would be in perpetual war and none 
be always pleased. 

980 
Occupation assuages bereavement and makes it 
possible to smile after the death angel has been a 
guest. 

981 

Sin will leave the earth when all men permit. 

982 
A slothful mind dwells in the swamps of life from 
whence rises the miasma of decay. 

983 
Industry guards the door of fame. 

984 
Folly marks the course that fools follow. 

985 

A young sinner may covet innocence; but an old 
sinner despises it. 

986 
Black is the smoke that rises from burning slander, 
and none can approach without disfigurement. 

987 
The illustrious marvel at their elevation even more 
than the people who gaze at them. 

988 
It is easier to take hold of vice than to let go, but 
easier to overcome than to endure to the end. 

989 

One may live an almost sinless life and yet an almost 
useless one. 

990 
Wealth is a persistent accuser when bought with honor. 



110 



991 
^^^ii^ODAY we are singing the song of yesterday, 
C^) and tomorrow we sing the song of today, be it 
^^^ major or be it minor. Memory gives the key 
and sets the measure, and whether or not we Hke the 
pitch or the movement, we must sing it and sing it 
to the never-ending end. 

992 
The wind bloweth where it listeth, and the majority 
are displeased thereat. 

993 

If thou wouldst be popular thou must be wealthy, 
witty or wise. 

994 

The most vital studies concerning the human family 
have not yet been broached. 

995 
Man must depart from all manner of evil to grow 
symmetrical. As yet, the earth has not produced one 
of perfect proportions ; but when the laws of being 
are known, the true type may be born. 

996 
One may learn the alphabet in childhood, but experi- 
ence is not contained in a primer. 

997 
Wherever a sleeping truth is awakened by man, it 
responds instantly to the deep questions of his soul. 

998 
Success is in proportion to the right kind of effort — 
unwisely directed force leads to disappointment. 

999 
Pleasure scattereth when fear cometh nigh. 

1000 
With some it is always merrymaking : they dance 
around a Maypole all their days, and at the end have 
only weariness for their exertion. 



Ill 



1001 
Throughout the length and breadth of our country 
are heard the cries of want and the clanking chains of 
crime — wherefore this in a land of boastful churches ? 

1002 
When thou art cornered, submit if thou be wrong; 
but if thou art right, let thy courage be as a right arm 
in defense of thy conscience. 

1003 

As the soil is to the seed, so is thought to the man. 

1004 

Gather the faggots of experience every day and bum 
them at eventide for the illumination of thy soul. 

1005 
To gain a foretaste of heaven, behave now as you 
expect to then. 

1006 

Two dangers that attend wealth are hardness of 
heart and forgetfulness. 

1007 
A fool is the fright of his friends. 

1008 
The world may find an excuse for thy first offense, but 
for thy second it inclines not to look for one. 

1009 

Criminals are, alas ! a nation's dishonor. 

1010 

The profoundest scholars can not solve the why of 
being nor the whither of man. 

1011 

In the dawning of the new life what shall we behold — 
a session of a supreme court or a natural flower- 
strewn world and a loved one to greet us? Methinks 
the latter, and that the Infinite will not be revealed 
for eons of time to the finite. 



112 



1012 

OH, ye dames of great fashion! I beseech thee 
heed not more your milliner than your con- 
science, and if the latter question thee concern- 
ing the unfortunate, listen lest one of God's daughters 
be famishing. 

1013 

Be submissive to discipline, but never to imposition* 

1014 

To hate one another is to hate God's handiwork. 

1015 
How blest the rest bestowed upon honest toil, but 
how frightful the specter that haunts the chamber of 
guilt ! 

1016 

So softly steal both good and evil thoughts into the 
mind that they are frequently firmly established ere 
discovered, and in trying to dislodge the bad the 
good are rudely jostled. 

1017 
Virtue that is preserved through fear is impure. 

1018 

The vaporings of a misty mind, though bound in 
gold and vellum, must perish quickly and unlamented. 

1019 

To prefer rhyme to reason is any man's privilege, but 
to prefer reason to all else is the wise man's choice. 

1020 

Nature records all her work, and man's study is to 
decipher the hieroglyphics. 

1021 

Love is the feminine savior of the world. 

1022 

When force is exhausted on trifles, when an emergency 
is met there is not enough left to overcome it. 



113 



1023 
Know ye, all peoples, that life on earth is to the 
immortal soul but the brushing of a bee's wing against 
one of ten thousand flowers, so many and so varied 
are the uncountable worlds about and beyond this. 

1024 
In the light of intelligence perceive we both the faults 
and the graces of mankind. 

1025 
Should joy a vacuum make, a nearby tear will fill it. 

1026 

How pleasant to walk with reason in the groves of 
religion, but how dreary to walk with religion in the 
bogs of superstition ! 

1027 
Silence is the wide moat that surrounds the temple 
of the living spirit. 

1028 
It is erroneous to suppose that licentiousness can be 
destroyed by much reading. It can not be read out, 
but must be bred out. 

1029 
In all the world there is naught so fair and so holy as 
truth. 

1030 
Anywhere that a man may go with safety a woman 
may go with propriety. 

1031 

The garden of paradise is the garden of the soul, 
wherein man and woman have been placed to cultivate 
and perfect character. Paradise is lost when evil 
enters in, and regained when evil is driven out. 

1032 
A torch in a cave and a cooling spring in a desert are 
real blessings only when they are the right thing in 
the right place at the right time. So is it with all aid. 
It must be timely and appropriate to benefit. 



114 



1033 

XHAVE watched thee, O mortal, and I have 
seen thee bud and blossom in the storm of 
adversity, and I have seen thee blossom in the 
sun-glow of prosperity, and I know not whether one 
flower be fairer than the other or more perfect. 

1034 

An intellect is the building of all ages past. 

1035 
If thou perceive not a divine and holy purpose in 
life, thou art not living within the realm of reason, 
which proclaims in a loud voice, *' Law is God and 
God is law." 

1036 
Redress for wrong can not be obtained by any process 
of revenge. 

1037 
Whatever thy religion, a righteous life will lead thee 
safely to one of thy Father's mansions. 

1038 
Nature has ordained that perpetual change is man's 
destiny. 

1039 
Men and women should train themselves to recognize 
virtues as quickly as faults. 

1040 
Prejudice is one-eyed, and to weigh and measure 
correctly there is need of two. 

1041 
Everybody likes praise, but none more than the 
undeserving. 

1042 
Subterranean rivers and cavern3 must be discovered 
before they can be mapped, and so it is with the 
unknown recesses of the mind; but they are no less 
interesting and wonderful because they are concealed. 



115 




1043 

rs long as young women will accept tarnished 
husbands, they will present themselves with 
much boldness ; but with refusal will come 
reform, and with reform will come a purer and happier 
generation, and the sons and daughters of love will 
be as gods, knowing good from evil, and knowing 
shall they do the good and eschew the evil. 

1044 

The root of all evil is ignorance. 

1045 

Mercy must be extended to those who have not 
earned it. 

1046 

Pleasure awaits those who seek it through avenues of 
kindness. 

1047 
The stream that rises in an impure mind can not be 
purified by word of mouth. 

1048 

When the evening of life comes we draw the curtains 
of silence about our couch that we may rest. 

1049 

Though angels walk with men they can not make all 
men angelic. 

1050 
Superiority accompanied with modesty merits admi- 
ration. 

1051 

If thou art too prone to talk thou wilt be too careless 
of reflection. 

1052 

They whom the ocean rocks to sleep awake mid 
fields of bloom. 

1053 

Sympathy should not be adulterated with too much 
pity. 



116 



1054 
A farewell spoken at the grave over the silent form 
is well-nigh unbearable when in the old thought of 
fear; but in the new thought of love and nearness, 
the heart does not so often break. 

1055 
The Laplander and the Hottentot are not disturbed 
by the throes of fashion ; but civilization, alas ! is 
convulsed each season to the undoing of health and 
morals. 

1056 
Whithersoever the mind, whithersoever the body. 

1057 
Be temperate in thy habits that thy soul be not 
deformed. 

1058 

The liberty given vice indicates the confidence that 
goodness has in wickedness to become better. 

1059 
No sorrow lies so heavy on the heart as that which 
must therein be concealed. 

1060 

They who rest with confidence on Nature's breast, 
rest thoroughly. 

1061 
The mighty upheavals of Nature are the breathings 
of progress. 

1062 

The holiest spot on earth is where love lives, sur- 
rounded by all the splendor of its divine creation. 

1063 

Repentance may come before or after death, but in 
either case good works must follow or it is futile. 

1064 
Fame is most difficult to lure from her high place by 
them who have not perseverance. 



117 



1065 
To fix an idea in the mind, grasp it firmly and remove 
all superfluities ; it can then be placed in the mental 
cabinet with less danger of falling out. 

1066 
The aim of a mind is no higher than itself. 

1067 
The mastery of self is an achievement of which any 
student should be proud. 

1068 
An old saw becomes dull with much use. 

1069 
Love an erring brother, love an erring sister, and so 
fulfil the law ; but love not their deeds nor think their 
deeds are they. 

1070 
Habitual monotony dries the fountain of language* 

1071 
Generosity delights in exercising its own will, and is 
embarrassed when hindered by circumstances. 

1072 
A prolific source of misconduct is mismating. 

1073 
Complaining is as depressing as a gray morning. 

1074 
It is a long lane through the woods of adversity, but 
the turning comes at the first clearing. 

1075 
An empty head maketh an empty heart. 

1076 
The bitterness of life can be sweetened to the very 
dregs with pure love. 

1077 
Frankness can never be made altogether popular.. 



118 



1078 

HETTERS are the leaves that fall from the tree 
of life and are wafted into our dooryards by 
every wind that blows. A few are from the 
branches of knowledge, some from the dry limbs of 
commerce, and others crimson-dyed with love — 
precious letters these, which sentiment preserves 
long years. 

1079 
The narrower the religious plank upon which men 
walk, the more danger of falling off should they 
disagree. 

1080 

The outcome of hate is destruction. 

1081 
Coasting down the hill of experience is sport for 
youth ; but elderly people prefer to stay on the sum^ 
mit, when they have toiled to get there. 

1082 
Commonsense is the salt of common life. 

1083 
The will of the drunkard is as frail as his promises.. 

1084 
When the drawbridge of caution is open, it were 
madness for impatience to jump off the pier. 

1085 
Once a soul had to be of asbestos to withstand the 
fires of religious hatred ; but better thought has 
modified the heat until the public feel quite safe. 

1086 
A hundred tales of victory are told to one of defeat.- 

1087 
Poverty is one of the commonest allies of intemper- 
ance, and when they parade together they defy 
sympathy. 



119) 



1088 

Vulgarity frequently wears the exterior of refinement 
to conceal its offensiveness, that it may with greater 
freedom exercise its propensities. 

1089 
Retribution and revolution are two swift steeds when 
started, that can not be controlled by any line of 
reason. They run till they fall from exhaustion. 

1090 

Until men are angels they will err. 

1091 

When the sun is obscured by clouds it were prepos- 
terous to say it will not shine again; therefore, in 
time of adversity be not hopeless. 

1092 
Long sermons have more words than short ones ; but 
that makes them no more instructive nor interesting. 

1093 

Ambition is not stimulated so much by luxury as by 
poverty. 

1094 
Great rivers of knowledge flow from the four quarters 
of the earth, to water the garden of the soul that it 
may bear abundant wisdom. 

1095 
Glad are the rocks and the rills, 
Glad are the fields and the hills. 
Filling the space that God wills. 

1096 
When right meets wrong there is a fierce conflict, and 
the victory can not be until right is triumphant. 

1097 
Thought is the substance wherewith we clothe the 
mind with coarse or fine raiment, and the fashion- 
ing of the garment is according to taste. 



120 



1098 
^^i/O withdraw the mind from worldly things and 
^ J place it wholly upon spiritual may seem a 
^^^ simple task ; try it, and convince yourself that 
it is a most difficult phase of mental discipline. In 
spite of heroic efforts the daily life will peep through 
the door and make wry faces, and your mind starts 
on a tour around the busy world and lingers longer 
in the marts than in the cloister. 

1099 

Adversity is not an enemy when it comes to teach. 

1100 

When right meets wrong there is a fierce conflict, and 
the victory can not be until right is triumphant. 

1101 
Mirth in the house of mourning disturbs not the 
dead, nor need it offend the living, for aught that 
promotes laughter lessens the tension of grief and 
releases the angel therein held. 

1102 

The gay throng sports with the passing moment, 
and when it disperses goes to yesterday or tomorrow 
for enjoyment. 

1103 

Holiness is a rare tree in the garden of life ; few there 
be who sit beneath its flowering branches or taste its 
delicious fruit. 

1104 
Every thought that passes through the mind is 
recorded by the little brain-cell to which it is assigned, 
and is ever ready for use whether wanted or not. 

1105 
To be bound to a creed is like entering a dark cave 
where the light of a new day can not enter. 

1106 

Give the young occasional advice, but daily example. 



121 



1107 
^y^HEN conscience convicts of wrongdoing too 
r ly late in life to make restitution, the soul may 
^^ not find peace in the hereafter until the wrongs 
are righted — and who can say when the opportunity 
may be found or how cruelly remorse may sting? 

1108 

Silence is the gateway to the heaven within. 

1109 

Let us measure the facts before speaking of the size 
of a matter. 

1110 
Many who are given the opportunity to reach dis- 
tinction are restrained by indolence. 

1111 
If thou art caught on the hook of dependence thou 
wilt be speedily landed. 

1112 

The world praises the ** I am " of success, but will 
not consider the " might have been." 

1113 

The voice of the public is not the voice of reason 
when it clamors for vengeance. 

1114 
In the Book of Nature are written all the laws that 
govern God and man ; but they are written in many 
and strange signs which man is yet pondering, and 
puzzled are both the wise men and the children. 

1115 
If the tree of literature yield no fruit for thee, it hath 
the green leaves of poetry and prose which thou 
mayest pluck for thy adornment. 

1116 
If thou wouldst live a life of rectitude, beware of the 
blandishments of selfish persuasion. 



122 



1117 
^w^HENCE this harmony that I waking hear? Is it 
V 1 y ^^^ singing of my own soul to the accompaniment 
^^^ of its own environment, or is it the singing of 
another spirit anear mine own? Give me answer, 
sweet Nature, and I will record what thou sayest to 
me in the still hour that I set apart for communing 
with thee. 

1118 
A wag is the thorn of staid company. 

1119 
Unto every one born of woman cometh disciplinary 
experience which is the leaven of life, and without it 
one could not rise. 

1120 

Negligence is closely related to disaster. 

1121 

More profitable than commercial bonds are the 
qualities of mind that outlive the passing moment. 

1122 
Dearly beloved, prepare ye for the journey outward 
and look to thy spiritual wardrobe to consider where- 
with ye shall be clothed for the new world. 

1123 

Little is demanded of fools, but much of wise men, 

1124 
The amount of sin in the world is not greater nor less 
than the amount of ignorance. 

1125 
Verily when the heart beareth a great sorrow it 
careth naught for pleasures. 

1126 
Love is the bloom of hope. 

1127 
To serve the world nobly is to serve God nobly* 



123 



1128 
"f fN impenetrable sea-fog is not more dangerous 
\ I to the mariner's moving ship than is the 
immoral fog that hangs over the fair land of 
society to the inexperienced. Alas ! the wrecks because 
the rocks of vice are not plainly defined by those in 
authority. 

1129 

In the sours great thirst for truth it may be persuaded 
occasionally to sip of error. 

1130 
Wherever man dwells he makes possible unholy and 
'^devastating war. 

1131 

Prudence should be the best loved of all friends, but 
she is much neglected for that silly and garrulous 
jade called Imprudence. 

1132 
It is unbecoming for youth to rebuke age, either by 
look or act, or to neglect infirmity, however dis- 
agreeable. 

1133 
It is better to wait for the sun of opportunity to rise 
than to start in the night and lose the way. 

1134 

The individual thought of one generation may be the 
general thought of the following. 

1135 
Every one must observe that he who climbs steadily 
toward the summit of the mount is never overtaken 
by one who walks around the base. 

1136 
When attacked by a ruffian defend yourself, but when 
attacked by a simpleton treat him with laughter. 

1137 
The only remedy for a sour disposition is amiability, 
self-administered in large doses. 



124 



1138 

DO line that is traced on the inner book of life is 
ever erased. There are hours when the whole 
weird story sweeps past with all its glaring 
imperfections exaggerated by time to a degree that 
shocks and alarms. Is that my life ? Is that thy life ? We 
deny it, but the phantoms follow and defiantly claim 
us, and at last we bow to the inevitable, and acknowl- 
edge our own biography written by our own hand. 

1139 

To do that which deprives another of innocent 
pleasure adds no luster to thyself. 

1140 

The futility of legislation compared with education 
will be apparent as long as the prisons and asylums 
are crowded with the unfortunate. 

1141 

Suffering turns the mind in opposite directions for 
help : to the within for spiritual consolation, and to 
the without for physical relief. 

1142 

Prudery lacks discernment. 

1143 
When trouble approacheth, gird up thy spirit to 
meet it with dignity. 

1144 
It is easier to render unto Csesar the things that 
belong to Csesar than to render unto God, for men 
know not always right from wrong. 

1145 
When a man finds a truth without seeking, he will 
find pearls and rubies at his feet. 

1146 
To be watchful is to be wise ; but to be wise is not 
always to be watchful. 



125 



1147 
''^'""w^^T would be most unpleasant to run behind a 
^Jl^^ wagon the whole time, but this do they who 
^""^^ run after Dame Fashion's swift-rolling equipage. 
She never stops, but flings a look of contempt now 
and then from her lofty seat at those who fall behind, 
which she intends shall cut them to the quick. 

1148 

The unlettered can fortell events as accurately as the 
scholar, but neither is infallible. 

1149 

Missionaries go too far from home. 

1150 
Many minds travel in underground darkness uncon- 
scious of a lighted way above them. 

1151 

That which we do unselfishly we are doing for our- 
selves. 

1152 

See to it, O child of folly, that you walk not too long 
in the garden of the senses, but walk more in spiritual 
and intellectual fields to become more familiar with 
thy better self. 

1153 
There be few who would continue in evil did they 
know good ; but alas ! with good, few can honestly 
claim intimacy, as their thoughts can testify. 

1154 
Life is a chain of human advancement, and every 
discovery adds a link to its endless length. 

1155 
Prophets claim to reveal the future, but what is most 
needed is one who can solve the present. 

1156 
An imitation deceives none so much as the imitator. 



126 



1157 
Man has not been permitted to stand upon the 
North nor the South Pole of understanding, but he 
may run around the equator at will ; and for this 
reason he cares not so much to do so, but ever seeks 
the unattainable. 

1158 
The feebleness of age has been likened to the help- 
lessness of infancy ; but it is threescore years from it, 
and the milestones of life should not count for naught. 

1159 
Tribulation is the filter through which the stream of 
humanity runs. 

1160 
The influx of spiritual light is like the steady shining 
of the North Star. 

1161 

When a youth goeth forth with a determination to 
resist temptation, he is not so beset by temptation. 

1162 

Sitting on the rock of intemperance is a siren who 
pipes many a wandering soul to death. 

1163 
If the prince hath not finer instincts than the servitor, 
it is the prince who suffers the more by comparison. 

1164 
When the stream of human passion is shallow, it 
may be forded with dry soles ; but when it is a mad 
torrent, it were death to attempt a crossing. 

1165 
When the flood comes, go to the attic ; but when the 
wind threatens, go to the cellar: good sense averts 
disaster. 

1166 
When plucking the roses of life we receive many 
scratches from ugly thorns. 



127 



1167 

QN hour will come in the life of every man when 
all that is evil will be hideous and all that is 
good will be beautiful; but this wakeful hour 
will not be until the soul is purified by the experience 
of another and a higher life. 

1168 
Whatsoever labor a man can spare his hand should 
be added to his intellect. 

1169 

Feeble are the thoughts of men and women when 
they are not deeply rooted in knowledge. 

1170 
Learn thy lesson well, O child, for thy Maker may 
require of thee what thou knowest this very hour. 

1171 
A gravedigger stands behind the door of every grog- 
shop, waiting to drive a victim to the Potter's Field. 

1172 
The forerunner of disease is sin — and what is sin? 
A violation of law, whether in ignorance or in defiance. 

1173 
If thou wouldst be accounted wise, thou must not 
express foolishness. 

1174 
The further from truth we stray, the further we 
wander from our final home. 

1175 
Interpret the language of flowers as thou wilt, they 
all speak with the voice of love, and dead is the heart 
that does not listen. 

1176 
Particular attention has been given to ethics in 
Christian communities, which has caused immorality 
to be more carefully concealed from prying eyes. 



128 



1177 

GHE spirit world, be it near or be it far, must be 
revolving in space with the precision of this 
little world, for it seemeth a truth that all 
worlds move according to rotary law, divine and 
unalterable, and that nothing that is is stationary. 
Possibly there may be a rising and setting of a 
spiritual sun to enjoy, and fair landscapes may be 
spread before the artistic eye. And is it not reasonable 
to assume that the world to which we journey is a 
refined counterpart of this earth planet which we love ? 
This is a pleasant conception, so let us entertain it in 
place of others less agreeable and less reasonable. 

1178 
Classic literature when it meets a friend is at home 
with commonest surroundings. 

1179 
It is as serious for the soul's welfare to think wrong 
as to do wrong. 

1180 

To be handicapped by ignorance is almost sure defeat 
in the great race of life. 

1181 

Could we turn the leaves of the future we might 
neglect the present page. 

1182 
Muddy minds, like muddy water, must be filtered, 
or the health of the whole neighborhood is endangered. 

1183 

If ye sow weeds, expect not to harvest grain. 

1184 
Bravery is meritorious ; but it consists in enduring as 
much as doing. 

1185 
Verbosity is never happier than when facts are lean, 
for 't is then its talents are best exercised. 



129 



1186 

nEAVEN is in the mind, and varies according to 
the quality of the mind. Many find it in vice, 
many in virtue ; some in avenues of religion, 
others in ways of learning ; and as death deals only 
with the external man, it is reasonable to believe that 
after fording the invisible river, it will not be at once 
monotonous. 

1187 
Marvel not when ye are told what God has said, but 
marvel much at the boldness of a man who says it. 

1188 
None heareth advice so humbly as he who is suffering 
physical disease. 

1189 

Always look out for breakers when sailing along the 
dangerous coast of dependence. 

1190 

If a viper coils in thy pathway, if thou art weak it is 
prudent to walk around it. 

1191 

Should a wave of misfortune upset my earthly craft, 
I shall not perish so long as I cling to a single hope. 

1192 
If there be aught in thy mind today that thou wilt 
not need tomorrow, cast it out. 

1193 
Never permit prejudice to occupy the guest-chamber. 




130 



BOOK FOUR 




1194 

BRIGHTER light will shine for 
thee, O child of the coming age, 
than flickered for thy brother in 
ages past, and many things thou 
^ wilt see that were not shown to 
him. Thy very hands shall clasp 
the heavens, and thy feet shall 
tread the electric currents that flow 
between the spheres. Into thy mind 
shall be poured the wisdom of unknown worlds, and 
into thy heart shall flow the love that will enable thee 
to use thy inheritance wisely. Another sense shall be 
added for thy pleasure, and thou wilt see visions, and 
the scroll of hidden things shall be held before thee, 
that thou mayest learn many lessons. Great books shall 
multiply and intelligence increase as never before : the 
new Adam and the new Eve shall be as the inhabitants 
of celestial realms, and no more shall they be vexed 
with the weakness of the flesh, but they shall live in the 
strength that is born of knowledge. 

1195 
The livery of Satan glitters in society, but at home he 
wears his coat inside out or takes it off altogether, 
which makes him far less attractive than in full dress 
and haberdashery. 

1196 
The science of religion is not a treatise on the unknow- 
able, but is confined to the knowable. 

1197 
A thought of love is as near as a thought of hate, and 
in a moment of foolish haste we select the latter. 

1198 
The happiness of the world depends upon the right 
doing of each inhabitant thereof. 

1199 

The key of duty will unlock the door of happiness. 



133 



1200 
The exercise of any gift without due cultivation 
thereof is like unto the sounds produced on a key- 
board by one having a musical temperament but 
knowing naught of the relation of notes. 

1201 

Goodness perceives so much of evil that its peace is 
marred in its endeavor to overcome it. 

1202 

Forever and ever will tender hearts be hurt by cruel 
ones, for it seemeth that to all time there will be degrees 
of sensitiveness, and the harder will grind the softer. 

1203 

Mercy and love proceed from truth — cruelty and 
hatred from error. 

1204 

Abasement is not any part of Godliness. 

1205 

The Commonwealth is injured not more by criminals 
than by idlers. 

1206 
It is a fact that ostentation is seldom found in company 
with the highest intelligence. 

1207 
Tears oft heal a wounded heart. 

1208 

It is easier to abide by the proprieties of society than 
to endure its scorn. 

1209 

Hold only to the good, and the evil will go in peace. 

1210 
If today could probe the tomorrow, men would live 
in the tomorrow to the fatal neglect of today. 

1211 
He that is without discretion is without peace. 



134 



1212 
^^JHE voice of Nature calls from the forest and 
^ J from the sea ; from mountain-peak and spicy 
^^^ isle ; and to each it says, '* Abide with me, 
abide with me, thou weary toiler, and I will give thee 
rest and teach thee hallowed song." 

1213 
We may ask of a neighbor his opinion, but let us not 
give him ours unsolicited. 

1214 
In defense of free thought be it said, Manacled thought 
is out of place in a Republic. 

1215 
It is dangerous to place temptation in the way of 
greed. 

1216 
Antiquity merits neither admiration nor adoration 
solely because it is hoary with age and mystery. 

1217 
The leaders of any cult are prone to consider their 
own advancement of as much importance as the cult 
itself. 

1218 
Though nothing can be well done that is not done 
with enthusiasm, much that is done with enthusiasm 
is not well done. 

1219 
Vexatious trifles, though small, will sting like gnats 
if allowed to light upon us. 

1220 

Let it be said of thee that thou didst no intentional 
wrong. 

1221 

The bed of the ocean can not be judged by its surface, 
and only many soundings will determine its depth— 
likewise is this true of the mind. 



135 



1222 
If thou wouldst not offend thy nearest friend, treat 
thyself with deference and politeness. 

1223 

Always be prepared to welcome truth from whatso- 
ever direction it may arrive. 

1224 
The visible signs of God's wrath are fewer than man's. 

1225 

So swift is the flight of time that joy perceives it not, 
but sorrow counts every motion of its wings. 

1226 

The way to Paradise is not up golden stairs ; but a 
quiet walk along the beaten paths of duty. 

1227 

Swift moves the hour, but swifter moves opportunity, 
and men grow weary in the race and cease to run, and 
straightway the world labels them failures. 

1228 

If thou canst not love a persistent wrongdoer, pity 
him that thou mayest not despise. 

1229 

Be faithful to thyself, that wickedness cease to prevail. 

1230 

The most insolent vice is that which walketh abroad 
as though it were a virtue. 

1231 
The cure for sin is Will, and if thou hast not Will 
thou art as grass upon the wayside trampled by every 
careless foot. 

1232 

If thy friend be a lifetime doing nothing, it is because 
he works aimlessly; then be not discouraged, if thy 
purpose is definite. 



136 



2133 

^P^HE beautiful is the possession of all mankind. 
CI If riches exclude poverty by high palings, there 
^^^ is the sunlit heavens and the starlit canopy ; 
for God is gracious to the lowliest and has so placed 
the orbs of light that each may behold them without 
hindrance. 

1234 

The thunderclouds of scandal rise whenever gossips 
meet. 

1235 
Charlatanism is not the exclusive possession of 
knaves, but belongs in part to every one who preys 
upon the people socially, politically or religiously 
with unfair intent. 

1236 
Whoso deceiveth, lieth in his mind. 

1237 
The price of sinning is thyself. 

1238 
The light of the mind is the light of all ages, and 
darkness invariably follows the abridgment of reason. 

1239 

No man runneth so fast and so far as retribution. 

1240 

The danger of wrongdoing for pleasure's sake is 
shown by the sequel. 

1241 

Thou canst not keep thy robes white if thou hast not 
cleanly surroundings. 

1242 

How sweet the peace after the turmoil of unrest is 
removed ! 

1243 
Man loves to dwell upon the thought that life con- 
tinues beyond the tomb and that individuality is 
his eternal possession. 



137 



1244 
^J^fHIRKING duty to avoid trouble is like journey- 
T^y ing with an empty trunk : when you arrive at 
^^^ your destination you have no change of raiment 
and must stand in the travel-stained garments of 
selfishness before many guests. 

1245 
Happiness never smiles on evil nor will it remain 
near it. 

1246 

Though fast falls the hail about thee, it melts quickly. 

1247 
When the floodgates of selfishness are open, the 
wheels of Mammon grind. 

1248 

At the very door of opulence, starvation sits dumb in 
a profligate land. 

1249 

A fool casts his net into the sea of folly to bring 
forth degradation. 

1250 

Science approaches the earth with more courage than 
ever before, for she knows that she will neither lose 
her head nor be cast into a dungeon any more for 
speaking to men. 

1251 
The mind inclineth to spiritual things, did not the 
exigencies of the life-struggle turn it in other directions. 

1252 

It is a slow march to middle life, but a quickstep 
thereafter. 

1253 

To every day is vouchsafed a fair prize, which is too 
often overlooked in the scramble for money. 

1254 
There is more harm to thyself in silence than in 
utterance when a principle is assailed. 



138 



1255 
Does time stand still and permit man to run toward 
it, or does it approach as he stands and waits ? 

1256 

If you question the veracity of others, they are only 
meeting you halfway if they question yours. 

1257 
The obtrusive things command attention ; the unob- 
trusive are passed unnoticed, unless observation 
touches us and whispers, ** Behold something unlike 
its neighbor." 

1258 
When traveling fast on the right road do not halt so 
suddenly that thy followers will trip over thee. 

1259 
When the people gather riches for display they serv^ 
Mammon fashionably. 

1260 

If thy morals be high, thy acts can not be low. 

1261 
It is easier to offend than to apologize, which shows 
that the easy way is not invariably the better way. 

1262 
Sympathy is the great commoner. 

1263 
Decide early what you would like to be, and then be 
what you decided you would like to be. 

1264 
When the lamp of love bums brightly in the cottage 
and the kettle sings merrily on the hob, the housewife 
has found a feasible method of outwitting the dram-^ 
shop. 

1265 
The beauty of life is not revealed to them who livd 
in sense gratification. 



139 



1266 

^y^HITHER goest thou, my soul, tonight on thy 
r 1 1 silent pilgrimage? Wilt thou explore the 
^^ morrow or wilt thou regard the day? Thou 
dost not vouchsafe an answer, and yet thou couldst 
tell me much if thou wouldst deign to gratify my 
curiosity, for I believe thou art most active during 
periods of bodily repose. 

1267 
The leader of every religious sect says, "Follow me 
and I will lead you to heaven," which makes the 
curious wonder if all roads lead thereto. 

1268 

Playing hide and seek with fortune may be amusing 
in young days, but in old age it is too childish to 
please and too fatiguing to continue. 

1269 

To acquire a better knowledge of the world to come, 
it were better to learn more of this. Perchance they 
are not unlike. 

1270 

If the physical body waxes strong in the sunlight, 
may not the spiritual body be invigorated by rays of 
celestial sunlight? 

1271 
So frail is the thread that runs through life that a 
thought will sometimes break it. 

1272 
State facts with positiveness, if at all, but never hint. 

1273 
One may search for sensuous gratification a lifetime 
and find only disappointment in the end. 

1274 
Thoughts that ruffle the mind injure the body, 

1275 
To avoid publicity one must mingle with the crowd. 



140 



1276 
^^i/HE vibration of musical strings does not 
CJ always soothe the disquieted spirit : oft it sets 
^^^ all the machinery of fancy in motion, which 
conjures gnomes and ghosts. It builds high in the 
air, where one may walk with strange beings. It creeps 
in the half light and strolls through the woodland 
of imagination until the rest that one seeks is turned 
to mental labor. 

1277 

Tell me where resides hate and I will tell thee where 
resides cruelty. 

1278 

Look we four ways, see we crime and misery, both the 
effects of ignorance; therefore, not punishment but 
knowledge must be relied upon to rid the world of 
evil. 

1279 
The limit of a man's mind is not determined by what 
he knows. 

1280 

Be there they who deny the divinity of man, those 
are they who disparage Divinity. 

1281 

The present use we make of time determines its 
future value. 

1282 

To find a saint, send not a sinner; to find a sinner, 
send not a saint. 

1283 

Application is the doorway of knowledge. 

1284 
The best thing that can be done for the cure of 
ignorance is to remove it from idleness. 

1285 
If thou wouldst have pleasure in all things, keep 
thine heart running over with good-will. 



141 



1286 

elGANTIC as Were the strides toward religious 
freedom in the closing of the Nineteenth 
Century, they are as short steps compared 
with the leaps that the generations of the Twentieth 
Century will delight in. 

1287 
When the hatchet is buried never visit the grave. 

1288 

When standing on the apex of fame, a mis-step may 
land you at the base. 

1289 

An antidote for moral poison is always to be found in 
virtue. 

1290 
The fear of ostracism on account of an honest con- 
viction is a kind of slavery to which no courageous 
man will submit. 

1291 

When treading the mazes of experience, one must 
walk alone. 

1292 
Gold is as precious when found in abandoned fields 
as in fresh ones. 

1293 
Profanity proceedeth from the lips of the wicked, 
and profanity proceedeth from the lips of the good, 
and profanity proceedeth from all who put words into 
the mouth of Deity. 

1294 

It is imperfection that makes us strive. 

1295 
Sorrows are the gray shadows that fall aslant life. 

1296 

By degrees man rises in the scale of intellect ; and as 
millions of years have passed and he is still a pigmy, 
what think ye must have been his condition at birth ? 



142 



1297 

HO, it shall not always be that he who labors 
least shall possess the most, but every man 
shall have that which he earns, whether it be 
mentally or physically. Not by confiscation will this 
come about, but by moral evolution, which will be 
a steady and imperceptible growth from selfishness 
to justice. 

1298 

In climbing the stairs of progress, civilization has 
rested many times on the broad landings, that the 
slow might overtake. 

1299 

The loveliness of Nature is enhanced many-fold when 
we raise the veil that she modestly draws about her- 
self and look upon her uncovered face — then only do 
we see her as she is and adore. 

1300 
The angels love them who heed their ways. 

1301 

Extreme poverty and extreme wealth are the very 
antipodes of society; but when death removes the 
barriers, the distance between them will be short. 

1302 
It is a self-evident fact that Deity is no more intimate 
with the Christian than with the Jew, and the 
prattling of each does not alter it. 

1303 
Man has started on an endless journey toward light. 

1304 
When permitted to gather fruit, do not heap your 
basket if your neighbor lacks. 

1305 
Anything that comes without effort comes without 
thought, and anything that comes without thinking 
is not lasting. 



143 



1306 

jr f LIVELY debate brings out the strongest and 
l~l the weakest points of a subject; therefore, 
everything that concerns human welfare should 
be considered debatable and turned and twisted in 
every possible manner by every honest person, that 
a reasonable conclusion may be reached. They who 
hesitate to speak and would exclude from discussion 
social, political or religious questions have not suf- 
ficient confidence in these hobbies to permit the 
people to ride them a few times around the arena of 
logic. 

1307 
The mind must be developed to reach its hidden 
wealth. 

1308 

Whenever creeds begin to brew, a teapot tempest 
must ensue. 

1309 

They are building a house of cards who proclaim that 
which can not be demonstrated. 

1310 

The mainspring of society is Intelligence. 

1311 

Every telegram that is flashed across the face of 
Nature is a message from the Almighty God. 

1312 

He who loveth wine most loveth wit least. 

1313 

When the devil is behind, it is safer to run than to 
loiter. 

1314 

It is ever better to learn a lesson before trying to 
impart it. 

1315 
Love and hatred come in and go out of the same door, 
but neither come nor go without invitation. 



144 



1316 

GOMING to the West are the religions of the 
East, "feo old that they are dust-covered and 
tottering. The thrifty Occidental brushes them 
off and sets them up for admiration, and some even 
fall down and worship in their love of the antique ; 
but an old religion or yet a new contains not all of 
truth. It is preposterous to so pretend ; it is the 
constant adding to knowledge which begets wisdom, 
and wisdom is the religion for the today and for the 
tomorrow. 

1317 
Peace is thine when thou wilt have it. 

1318 

When falsehood unexpectedly meets truth, fear 
gives it swift wings. 

1319 

The most admired of all traits of character is unself- 
ishness, and it is the most uncommon. 

1320 

What we love we endeavor to be near; thus do we 
index our character for the public convenience. 

1321 

Soul measure is as delicate as measuring the vibration 
of thoughts. 

1322 

A sensitive mind is like unto a sheet of white wax : a 
scratch leaves a deep impression. 

1323 

They who can not control themselves are they who 
would control others. 

1324 

An absolute remedy for dissipation is abstinence. 

1325 

The dewy mom of life hath no fear of the experiences 
of the somber eve. 



145 



y 



1326 

^V^HEN aweary I recline under the tree of knowl- 
\gy edge and lean against the sturdy trunk, that 
some ripening fruit perchance may fall anear 
me. I sometimes shake a laden bough that hangs low 
and finding it good I store it in memory. 

1327 

As the grave is the last place that a man expects to 
go, he never hurries about his preparations — con- 
sequently he usually starts unprepared. 

1328 

Before jumping a fence it is well to know the ground 
on the other side. 

1329 
In any kind of gambling, one is not surer of winning 
than when betting on the weather in a strange 
country. 

1330 

The sons and daughters of patriots are the Nation's 
best defenders. 

1331 
There are proper and fitting garments for every soul ; 
but in our haste or carelessness we seize the wrong 
ones and display the misfits triumphantly. 

1332 
Liberal thought permits charitable speech. 

1333 
To say that all men are made in the image of God 
implies that God is changeable and not altogether 
beautiful. 

1334 
When you set a trap to ensnare another you stand 
one chance in two of springing it on yourself. 

1335 

Those who are ever in quest of novelty overlook most 
genuine pleasures. 



146 



1336 

OUT of the great deeps of thought troop the 
genii of poesy. Not at command come they forth, 
but as they will they dart in and out of the 
forests of the imagination. Do we love them ? Yea, we 
adore. Do they return our love? Yea, for they give 
of their best to man. 

1337 
Righteous intent, however feeble, is not in vain. 

1338 
Every thought of love is a thought of God. "^ 

1339 
Mental composure increaseth discernment. 

1340 

To be persuaded to do evil is to confide in destruction. 

1341 
When thou canst talk to the man in the moon by 
standing on a chair, then canst thou achieve great- 
ness without effort. 

1342 
Sitting under the shadow of a Great Presence, I rest 
content, knowing that I am loved. 

1343 
Aspiration is a prayer to Inspiration. 

1344 
When thou inhalest the fragrance of a flower, thou 
art drawing its spirit to thine own. 

1345 
Beautiful, Beautiful, Beautiful, most holy change 
called Death ! 

1346 
The precise hour and the moment of our going out- 
ward is wisely hidden ; but the certainty of the 
journey before us is never doubted — therefore he 
who is wise is always ready. 



147 



1347 

The doors of knowledge are always wide open, and 
every man, woman and child on the globe is cordially 
invited to enter the grand temple. 

1348 
Nations rise and fall, rulers are deposed, but the Law 
remains forever ; and it is man's business to study the 
Law, that his ways conform to those of the Lawgiver. 

1349 

Memory is a beautiful and holy book, if the life be 
clean and its aims noble. 

1350 

Never-ending pleasure is awaiting them who love 
knowledge. 

1351 

Better be forgetful of favors than to remember 
wrongs. 

1352 
If you labor to please yourself or friends you rarely 
succeed, but if you labor to perfect yourself you 
succeed in pleasing both. 

1353 

Apathy reigns in modem society when absolute 
cleanliness of speech should be a requirement for 
membership. 

1354 
Some have a cruel habit of gathering the thistles by 
the way and carrying them to the afflicted. 

1355 

Good has more power than evil : witness the fact that 
good oftener than evil directs and controls the public 
mind. 

1356 
Give thyself time, for it is easier to walk than to run. 

1357 
When you are in a tight place, you will be more 
comfortable to contract than to expand. 



148 



1358 

^^^E prepared at all times to receive Inspiration, 
JC/^ ^s it is erratic in its visitations, coming at 
^^^ seasonable and unseasonable hours and leaving 
abruptly if not received warmly. 

1359 
When about to turn a corner slacken thy speed, lest 
meeting another thou art overturned. 

1360 

Ask not of folly the way to success nor of indolence 
the way to renown. 

1361 

Man would be as playful as a kitten were he entirely 
free from care — and were it so, his life would amount 
to no more than a cat's life. 

1362 

Poison is a thought of disease — think health and 
send it everywhere. 

1363 
Lo, the faith that each reposes in his own religion! 
Another's may be wrong, but not his. 

1364 

When one meets a bear at the forking of the road, 
there is no rule to tell one whether safety lies in 
retreat or in advancement. 

1365 

Of the two conditions — a good fool or a bright knave — 
the latter is not more deplorable, as there is chance 
for quicker improvement. 

1366 
The only receipt for loneliness is work, and the only 
work for loneliness is that which absorbs self. 

1367 

If thou knowest guilt thou hast a most terrible 
companion. 



149 



1368 

X ASKED of my soul, this holy day, what manner 
of mortal is beautiful, and this was the answer 
returned : '* If thou art comely and full of 
grace and hast not abundant love for all the sons and 
daughters of God, thou art not beautiful/' 

1369 
Kick not the dog that stands in thy way. A slight 
turning will ofttimes save a serious encounter. 

1370 
If I were hunting for virtue, I would not travel the 
path of sin nor should I look toward iniquity to espy 
peace. 

1371 
A strange paradox — Life grows shorter as it grows 
longer. 

1372 
Sin can not exceed the circumference of mortal 
thought ; but no thought can circle the consequences 
of sin, for they extend beyond the ken of mortal mind. 

1373 
Listen as you will for words of wisdom — they are not 
spoken by ignorance. 

1374 

Many a fall have Jack and Jill when trying to climb 
Pegasus hill. 

1375 
Nine out of ten are searching for heaven outside of 
themselves. Stop, friends ! Your heaven is nearer 
your own door than another's. 

1376 

Lead me, O thou wise angels who guide my life into 
ways of justice and of merit. 

1377 
Illumine thy countenance with heavenly light by 
carrying the lamp of truth upon thy brow. 



150 



1378 

XSAT before the mute keyboard — no sound came 
forth until I smote the beloved chords, but ere 
the notes reached mine ear my mind was filled 
with the coming theme and in the silence of anticipa- 
tion I heard it all, yea, more than the singing keys 
gave forth when fondly pressed by loving fingers. 

1379 
Let thy mouth be sweet with wisdom and thy words 
as healing balm. 

1380 
Close upon the heels of science crowds the religion of 
the Twentieth Century, and soon will they walk hand 
in hand as brother and sister of one Common Parent. 

1381 
Man stands in the world of spirit a dual being, and 
death will not mar his soul garb. 

1382 

Have no fear, neither of God nor man : Let love 
govern thy life, for fear degrades. 

1383 
The pulse of the universe is quickened or retarded by 
Divine thought. 

1384 
There is a curious twist in the human mind that 
makes it incline much to laughter when it should be 
grave, and that stills it when it should be merry. 

1385 
Piety shuns mirth to walk with soberness ; whereas 
mirth would be a pleasant companion for both. 

1386 
Put not thy trust in verbal expression, but in the 
thought itself. 

1387 
The world speaks superficially — the few with wisdom. 



151 



1388 

yj^UCH say the leaves when they rustle and 
IjJ uneasy turn upon their stems. Now it is the 
coming storm that they trembling fear; again 
in breathless silence do they warn of gathering danger ; 
and in the Autumn of their death, with radiance clad 
do they yield their life that they may come forth in 
the Springtime to gladden mankind anew. 

1389 

In the world's great orchestra, they who beat the 
drums of ostentation may fancy they are carrying a 
leading part, whereas the harmony is not so much 
increased by their performance as the noise. 

1390 

O man ! O woman ! If thou lovest the outward form 
and have no affinity of soul, thou knowest naught of 
love nor of life. 

1391 

He that burneth with lust will be consumed by the 
fires of regret in the day of awakening. 

1392 

Fiercer and fiercer the combat between the old beliefs 
and the new knowledge, and surer and surer the 
result. 

1393 
In the still hour before I slumber, my soul and I do 
speak of much for which the world hath no ear; 
therefore I tell thee not all, Dear Book, lest thou 
betray me to an incredulous people. 

1394 
As the sap runneth upward until the leaves burst 
forth, so the upward tendency of man. 

1395 
If a man goeth out in the morning to till his field, and 
loiter until the meridian, wherefore has he gained 
over his neighbor who sleepeth until the noon ? 



152 



1396 

^^Bi^HAT which is, has always been, and that which 
C) had not a beginning can have no ending ; 
^^^ therefore eternity is all, and the one life is in 
all — vague, mayhap, but a lesser truth will not be 
met with more cordiality by sleepy folk who find 
thinking a difficulty. 

1397 / 

To forget pain, refuse to talk of it. ^ 

1398 

If I stand on a pile of chips it does not prove that I 
cut the wood. 

1399 

By human guide-posts it is a long way to perfection. 

1400 
It is a plain fact that ostentation avoids intimacy with 
the highest intelligence — it seeks mediocrity. 

1401 
The manifestations of Divinity appear to none alike, 
but according to the evolution of the soul do we agree 
in our conceptions and express unity. 

1402 
The closer men keep to the center of their mind, the 
nearer they keep to their heaven. 

1403 

Such a little while intervenes between birth and death 
that they are but the morning and the evening of an 
eventful day. 

1404 

Precious are the gifts that flow in on the tide of love. 

1405 

He who careth for strong drink careth less for strong 
men. 

1406 

Pass through the world cheerfully, then wilt thou 
not add to thine own nor another's burden. 



153 



1407 

XN the beginning we have given into our keeping 
the different pieces of our Hves which we are 
commanded to fit into a perfect whole ; this 
task we must eventually accomplish in the eons and 
eons of time before us. 

1408 
Ever be a true friend to thyself, that thou mayest 
quickly find one in adversity. 

1409 
Men are continually casting thoughts into space to 
fall about like the flakes of whited snow or the sooty 
particles that begrime. 

1410 

Be it resolved : that whatever I am destined to bear 
I will respond " Amen.'' 

1411 
Dogs are not altogether agreeable in their treatment 
of the community at large, and they are not altogether 
different in this respect from the community itself. 

1412 
Alas ! what manner of man is he who would rob 
another if circumstances would permit? 

1413 
He who shall outwit Nature shall be greater than God. 

1414 
In the twilight of life let us linger in the spice-groves 
of holiness, where the weeds of fanaticism can not 
take root in the sacred soil. 

1415 
Why should mortals fly in the face of folly when 
discretion bids them at all times to walk demurely in 
the path of prudence? 

1416 
Even as the fiber of each mind varies in quality, so is 
the thought coarse or refined that it yields. 



154 



1417 

XT is a marvelous privilege to hold converse 
with the departed, and thrice blest are they to 
whom is given the pleasure of consoling the 
afflicted, and who use the gift wisely and without the 
taking of silver. 

1418 
When virtue sighs and starves and sin parades with 
brazen countenance, call not yourselves enlightened, O 
peoples, but benighted. 

1419 
Thou canst find a compliment for thy friend as easily 
as thou canst find a flaw, if thou wilt search on the 
flowering side of his life. 

1420 
What gaineth a man to fish all day in a dry creek or 
to pump in a dry well ? When nothing can be accom- 
plished, go elsewhere. 

1421 
An evidence that the world is growing wiser is its 
independent inquisitiveness. It dare question and it 
dare sit in judgment on its answers. 

1422 
A stone that has rolled down through the ages without 
gathering moss is a clean stone, and such is truth 
which never stops rolling long enough to become 
mossbacked. 

1423 
If the focalizing of good thoughts upon a person is 
beneficial, what must be the focalizing of bad thoughts ? 

1424 

A characteristic of freedom is its love of country. 

1425 
Nature makes a mighty effort to expel disease, that 
the spirit may dwell in a wholesome house. 

1426 

No one likes to think that greatness was ever small. 



155 



1427 

XF the spiritual body is contained within the ma- 
terial body or if it envelops it (and if immortality 
be true, it is not irrational to believe either), 
must it not be nourished with the spiritual part of the 
food of which the natural partakes — the intelligent 
subconscious brain selecting and separating with 
nicety the nourishment according to its requirements. 

1428 

The stream that flows from a pure mind is pure when 
it flows into words. 

1429 
Why select inferiority for thy part when superiority 
might be thine? 

1430 

We may hire our work profitably done, but not our 
thinking ; this must we do for ourselves or suffer loss. 

1431 

In the era precluding the exercise of reason, the 
world's history was written in chapters of human gore. 

1432 
Doubt is the forerunner of progress. 

1433 

So long as my mind dwelleth in peace I can sing of 
God, but should it leap into contention my song 
dieth. 

1434 
When prying is shut out of the door, it tries to crawl 
in at the window ; and only when the gate is locked, 
is there seclusion. 

1435 
To despise thy brother is to crowd him to earth, 
whereas thou shouldst uplift alway. 

1436 
Abide in the truth whenever thou findest it, whether 
or not thy neighbor approve. 



156 



r 1^37 N 

( 'T is God's decree that all men should find Him ; and I 
\ that none may miss, eternity is given. ^ 

1438 
Dear earth, thou art overlaid with heaven's reflection. 

1439 
Each day is a chapter from the book of life ; learn thy 
lesson well, O child of earth, for thy Maker may 
demand of thee that thou knowest this very hour. 

1440 
If thou canst find one thought-gem in the toil of the 
day, it is thine own. 

1441 
It is a misfortune to be bom rich, and without those 
qualities of mind that make riches a blessing. 

1442 
Pricking a bubble before it is seen, 
Plucking the trees when the fruit is green, 
Answering a question before it is heard — 
Will make any man or woman absurd. 

1443 
Never overdo small matters. A large oven will hold 
a small loaf, but a mammoth loaf can not be thrust 
into a small oven. 

1444 
Gold is not man's to keep, and if he struggle for it 
he can only play that it is his for a day and then toss 
it to another — and so runs the game adown the ages. 

1445 

There are as many spiders as webs, and a simple fly 
for every waiting spider. 

1446 
When the morrow comes, the foolish are no better 
prepared to reform than today, and they who wait 
never reform. 



157 



1447 

ONCE I was awed by the approach of death, but 
now that I know him, I love him, for he hath 
in his keeping mine own, and he hath promised 
that I, too, may enter his realm to dwell with them. 
Therefore do I exclaim, ** Dear angel, I await thy 
coming with perfect trust, and with full confidence 
that thou knowest best when to call me." 

1448 
Look on both sides of the fence for the missing. 

1449 
Curb not thy energy, but let it run like a young hart 
or roe over the hills of usefulness. 

1450 
If thou art proud hide thy tears and thy wounds 
from the rabble lest they mock thee. 

1451 
When fairly cornered by reason, surrender and she 
will assist thee into the open. 

1452 

The great redeemer of mankind is understanding. 

1453 

A slender blade of grass points upward like a spire. 

1454 

Behold a leaf spread o'er with tracings of Divinity. 

1455 
Demand a systematic accounting of thyself each day 
for the good and the evil done. 

1456 
The fountain of perpetual youth is not found within 
the domain of excesses. 

1457 
Everywhere present and nowhere welcome — such is 
the fate of the bore. 



158 



1458 
^^JHERE is a notion extant among the rich that 
^ J the poor are not favored of God, and a prevalent 
^^^ notion among the poor that the rich are favored 
of Satan, which can be explained on no other hypoth- 
esis than that the one entertains the notion that God 
is the dispenser of money, and the other that the 
Devil is. 

1459 
A few drops of essence of good breeding will prevent 
giving and taking offense. 

1460 
It may be harmful to endure, but worse to harm. 

1461 
Like water without motion, a life without ups and 
downs would become too monotonous to be interesting. 

1462 
When Dame Flattery smooths her gown and adjusts 
her goggles, it is wise, O virtuous maid, to change 
your seat; and whenever her son is present, it is 
opportune to retreat before he opens speech. 

1463 
Peace cometh with the determination to lead a 
cleanly life, but destruction cometh with the storms 
of immorality. 

1464 
Comfort, mortals require ; but luxury could be lopped 
off without injury. 

1465 
The days of the toiler are less exhausting than the 
days of the idler, for one has strength and the other 
weakness. 

1466 
The value of a life can not be estimated by man ; it 
may appear worthless and yet be a precious stone 
in the great building of the universe. 



159 




1467 
^LL the philosophies and religions of the past 
have led up to the present moment of inspira- 
tion, which is the most wonderful outpouring 
of the spirit of Divine wisdom that the world has ever 
known, and the words that are now being penned by 
moderns will live longer than the utterances of the 
ancients. This may sound boastful, yet it is only the 
natural growth of religious thought. 

1468 
Every flower that is born into life cometh with labor, 
and were our ear practised we might hear Nature 
sigh. 

1469 
Perfection is the goal of man, and diligence is the way. 

1470 
The garment of death is Immortality. 

1471 
Were a monument of gratitude erected to the memory 
of every monarch who has made the world wiser, 
they might not stand closer on the road than the 
sphinxes of old. 

1472 
As lasting as light are the attributes of the soul. 

1473 
The whirligig of time is a perpetual round of death. 

1474 
It is wiser to lose a friend than to yield a principle. 

1475 
He who doeth a wrong shall in no wise escape the 
heavy hand of retribution, be it soon or in the distant 
years of eternity. 

1476 
In the great ocean of life there are many beautiful 
islands on which we tarry on our journey. 



160 




1477 
fS years are added disgrace grows heavier until 
the grave is courted by a sufferer as a welcome 
retreat from the world ; but if immortality be 
true, which is probable, and individuality be retained, 
which is probable, why should the putting on of new 
garments change the course of the thoughts and make 
souls forget those things that belong to the realm of 
mind ? It would seem wholesome to preach that death 
will not change the mind. It would make men more 
careful of their acts. 

1478 
In the sunlight make provision for the darkness. 

1479 
To what may we attribute our shortcomings if our 
religion and our morals are correct? 

1480 
When the watchdog of suspicion tugs at the chain, 
prudence says keep out of the enclosure. 

1481 
Sunlight for the practical, and moonlight for the 
sentimental, seems to be Nature's own suggestion. 

1482 
Memory is an adjunct of time and runs parallel with 
it through all ages. 

1483 
When men and women are concerned about their own 
salvation, they are usually concerned about their 
neighbors'. Hence, proselyting has come about in a 
most natural manner, but with most uncertain results. 

1484 
A most favorable moment for examining the soul is 
when it is preparing to leave the body for dreamland ; 
and when it returns from thence, ask again of its 
intention during its daily routine, and whether its 
conduct will square with a tender conscience. 



161 



1485 
^^^EYOND the green fields of earth methinks 
^JC/j there is a world of surpassing beauty wherein 
^^^ are congregated the loved who await us with 
expectant joy, eager to lead us beside the flowing 
waters of health where we may slake our thirst 
abundantly. 

I486 
The artisan places one brick upon another until the 
structure is complete, and thus are laid the experi- 
ences of life until the temple is finished. 

1487 

Some are determined to trudge with cares, accounting 
ease selfish. 

1488 
Whenever thou findest a friend in thy sickness and 
poverty, thou mayest know that thou hast found a 
disciple of God. 

1489 
The friendship of one silent man is worth more than 
the companionship of ten thousand braying asses. 

1490 
When speaking of prosperity it should be defined, for 
whether it rest on the gratification of the present or 
the needs of the future makes it stable or unstable. 

1491 

As straight as an arrow flies time toward the tomb. 

1492 

Of thy bounty divide, lest death rebuke thee suddenly. 

1493 
If good luck is a visitation of Providence, ill luck 
must also be ; for nothing that is, comes by chance, 
but is the effect of a cause, of which we may or may 
not be cognizant. 

1494 
Age divides not veneration with youth, but claims it all. 



162 




1495 
SCULLION adorns the kitchen and a groom 
may be brilliant in the stable, but in belles- 
lettres and the fine arts they might be dull; 

therefore, do not overleap the limit of thy capacity 

if thou dost wish to shine. 

1496 
Discipline makes us promise, but inclination makes 
us forget. 

1497 
Commerce makes men friends, but religion makes 
men foes; therefore nations are most civilized by 
merchants. 

1498 

Any one may read from the book of fate who has a 
mind to reason. 

1499 

The caprices of children are accounted unworthy 
respect; but were they analyzed they might not be 
contemptible. 

1500 
Never while the breath of life is with thee permit thy 
tongue to speak evil nor thy lips to whisper deceit ^ 

1501 
One is liable to meet the ghost of the past at any 
time, and if the deeds have been foul nothing is more 
terrifying. 

1502 

Whenever there is life there is God, and whenever 
there is God there is growth. 

1503 
Persistent and systematic effort to crush new truths 
as they appear reacts wofuUy upon the worker, 
whilst keeping them fresh before the people until 
they can be discerned by the many. 



163 



1504 

iy^ERE the beautiful and shining Venus to come 
r ly within reach it would lose charm and brilliancy, 
^^ and the lesson herein contained is plain : that 
to retain the attention and the admiration of the 
multitude, distance is absolutely necessary. 

1505 
Self-conceit will run the human engine a long time, 
but there is a limit to the number of pounds it is safe 
to carry. 

1506 

Legal minds do not look in a lean purse for a fat fee. 

1507 

In some far-off day in the future the people will say 
to one another, ** How foolish and ignorant were the 
generations of the Twentieth Century ! " 

1508 
When looking for friends do not look in dark corners 
nor unholy places. 

1509 
Falsehood may not be so rough as the way of truth, 
but it is a much longer distance to a safe stoppings 
place. 

1510 
To be prominent because of some eccentricity is some- 
what embarrassing, but he who is without is unnoticed. 

1511 
Free institutions of learning are crowding our land> 
but where is the one devoted to patriotism ? 

1512 
Occasionally there cometh a vision of the future 
so exact it were as though an artist portrayeth that 
which he had seen ; whereas it is a glimpse of that 
which never was but is to be, an etching by the hand 
of the Great Designer who shapes our destinies and 
marks our days. 



164 



1513 

GAN any one affirm that God is omniscient and 
omnipresent, full of mercy and love, when 
there is so much want, misery and crime, with- 
out losing belief in a personal ruler and accepting 
the theory of evolution as the Divine plan of man's 
growth and salvation ? 

1514 

Variety is the pass-key that opens the doors of 
enjoyment. 

1515 
There is little moral difference between the selfish 
poor and the selfish rich ; but the world of art is a 
little better served by the selfish rich. 

1516 
A chronic grumbler might realize the beauty of life 
were he about to be deprived of it. 

1517 
The little we know is hard to tell, and all we know is 
little to tell. 

1518 
A king and a queen are a man and a woman, and as 
such they leave this world and enter the other — then 
it behooves them to consider themselves as they are. 

1519 
When a lake is frozen over, the depth and clearness 
of the water can not be easily determined ; thus, 
when the heart is frozen, are its depths a secret until 
thawed by the sunshine of love and sympathy. 

1520 

A man of moods is like changeable weather, which 
has to be endured regardless of pleasure or comfort. 

1521 

In proportion to our discernment are the benefits of 
society. 



165 



1522 

Those who hunger and thirst after righteousness are 
not satisfied with esoteric ceremonies ; they must be 
fed with the esoteric bread of Hfe — then will the 
famished spirit revive. 

1523 
The point of a needle is small, but its thrust is pain- 
ful ; so is it with a sharp word. 

1524 
He who has the finger of scorn pointed at him quakes 
as with the fear of forked lightning. 

1525 
The beauty of life is not seen in a twinkling, but is 
unrolled as the ages advance in worlds without end. 

1526 
The necessity of restraint is not understood by the 
restrained. 

1527 

Liberty is not the safety of a people, but the lawful 
use of it. 

1528 
The superiority of intelligence over ignorance will 
never be disputed. 

1529 

If thou believest in a devil, in that degree puttest 
thou God from thyself. 

1530 
The loud braying of foolishness soundeth afar, but 
one must listen for the low, sweet voice of wisdom. 

1531 
Youth is not more fickle than age, though age assert 
it and youth deny it not. 

1532 
The aged climb the stairs of heaven with quicker 
step than the young, and a friend always stands at 
the top to extend a welcoming hand. 



166 



1533 
The wind is the companion of the storm, and together 
they deUght to wander and frighten man. 

1534 
They who learn to wait want to wait. 

1535 
When a prisoner is friendless he is halfway to sentence. 

1536 
Punctualness is ever superior to tardiness in all the 
affairs of daily life. 

1537 
The most desirable quality to find in a stranger is 
probity. 

1538 
The religion of the future will prevent the lifting of 
the sword in mortal combat and the itching of the 
palm for another's possessions. 

1539 
Silence is the door to the inner temple of the mind, 
and if thou approach thereto with noise thou canst 
not enter it. 

1540 
A pure thought leads the mind into a pure atmosphere^ 
where the whole being is vivified and made positive 
against evil. 

1541 

A safe cure for indolence is the lash of necessity. 

1542 
Talent is elastic ; it stretches with use. 

1543 

Sudden wealth makes sudden fools. 

1544 
Man's origin and his destiny are the secrets of God> 
and not to be revealed to such as we. 



167 




1545 
|(HOULD man try in the morning to look into 
the evening, or in the evening to look into the 
morning ? Yea ! Should he cling to and live on 
the past ? Nay, Nay ! It is decay ; experience, which 
is the soul of yesterday, lives in the present, therefore 
let him abide with life and depart from death. 

1546 
The law of attraction is ever at work, both in physics 
and in ethics, demonstrating facts that help man to 
know himself and others. 

1547 
A revelation yet to be made to man : his relation to 
other things, and his true place in the infinity of 
surrounding worlds. 

1548 
There are many ways of burying crime, but none that 
will lay the ghost. It stalks where it will and when it 
will, keeping the gravedigger in a frenzy. 

1549 

The church has a curious device called a creed, to 
bind reason ; whereas religion should be as boundless 
as the universe. 

1550 
Degradation is the swamp-land of society, making 
those who are compelled to live on its borders quake 
with the ague of apprehension. 

1551 
Enjoin no man from seizing all knowledge within his 
reach, for the day may come when there is a famine 
of time and his very life depend upon that which he 
has stored. 

1552 

It is a certainty that they who love light will seek it. 

1553 
The beginning of wisdom is the desire for it. 



168 



1554 
^^[^HE most convincing evidence of man's religious 
CI growth is his determination to be his own 
^^ priest and to make his own theology. Myths, 
legends, creeds and dogmas he examines carefully. 
Fear he is outgrowing, and he dare enter the holy of 
holies and pry into the ark of the covenant, not upon 
his knees but with his face lifted toward heaven. 

1555 
A man who does not think with the age in which he 
lives has as little part in the world as a bandaged 
mummy. 

1556 
We shall always weep when our loved ones pass 
through the portals into the inner chamber, though 
we know they there await us and that our names will 
soon be written on the scroll of entered apprentices. 

1557 
The trailing of garments of woe is an outward expres- 
sion that adds to the heart's burden when it is least 
able to bear it. 

1558 
The slowest traveler could keep pace with religions 
on their way to liberty. 

1559 
Solitude is the dwelling-place of the soul, and there in 
the stillness can it review its past and shape for its 
future. 

1560 

The beauty and gentleness of Dame Nature in her 
pleasant moods make her children forget the cruelty 
and suffering she can inflict when moved by storm. 

1561 
As humble as are the prayers of the penitent, they 
should not be spoken in public, lest hypocrisy learn 
the words. 



169 



m' 



1562 
^EN believe the world was created in six days. 
Men believe that it was made in periods of 
time ; others as truly say it was not created at 
all, but that it grew from a seed atom cast into the 
universe by the divine hand of causation, and was 
warmed into life by the divine mother. 

1563 

There is no resting-place for guilt. 

1564 

Laughter is as spontaneous as vegetation, whenever 
there is soil enough for the lodgment of seed. 

1565 

The novelty of life is augmented by the fact that we 
know not why nor whence we came nor why nor 
whence we go. 

1566 

Pour the oil of peace, O most holy spirit, upon my life, 
and bathe my brow with the morning dew of wisdom. 
Let the East sun illumine my mind, that I may have 
discrimination, and the West sun be as a searchlight 
set on a hill to guide me on my rugged journey. 




170 



BOOK FIVE 



1567 

PERCEIVE a glorious presence 
beside me whose eyes are like the 
evening and the morning star; 
whose breath is perfect health, 
^ and whose words are sustenance ; 
whose aim is God. Will my spirit 
list to thy instructions, O being 
of light? Yea, verily, and I will 
' love thee and I will obey thee 
when thou askest me to follow in ways of purity and 
eternal beauty. O spirit of wisdom, art thou my 
guardian angel? Wast thou, as I, of earth? Thou 
sayest yea, and I believe, for such as thou utterest the 
truth alone. Beautiful being, if I am worthy thy care, 
preserve me and help me to make my life so pure and 
useful that I may be a co-worker with thee when my 
soul withdraws from this existence for the higher. 




1568 



Whatever savors of vulgarity belongs to evil. 

1569 

Measure for measure is Nature's revenge. 

1570 
All generations to come will be grappling with per- 
plexing problems, for the infinite hath ordained that 
the finite should not compass the infinite mind. 

1571 
The wings of thought are not swifter than the wings 
of love, and their flight is side by side. 

1572 
Liberty is not another name for selfishness. Mark a 
distinction. 

1573 
A fair life perceiveth a fair world, but luckless is he 
whose days are spent in deception. To him all things 
and all men are false. 



173 



1574 

VAST continents are still unexplored in art and 
science, that will some day teem with intellectual 
activity, for as yet man dreams not of what he 
will be, nor of how much awaits his magic touch ; but 
in the coming of the new day, when old things shall 
have passed away, the mourners will be many among 
the antiquarians, but the young shall sing Hosannas. 

1575 
When too many creature comforts are the aim of 
life, the soul starves for lack of common necessaries. 

1576 
Facts fall into the mind and lodge in their own little 
corners, making themselves at home and adding 
much to safety and happiness. 

1577 
A debater who is not fair-minded declaims himself 
not a logician but a dust-thrower. 

1578 
He who speaks above his audience is not more 
applauded than he who speaks beneath it. 

1579 
Tell me, O teachers, why ancient beliefs are received 
with smiles, and fresh and beautiful discoveries are 
repulsed with frowns ? 

1580 
A clever ruse may entrap the unwary, but ever at the 
expense of fair dealing. 

1581 
A jolly fellow is the rattle-box of society. 

1582 
Retaliation is the gathering of firebrands. One is sure 
to burn one's fingers and smoke one's garments. 

1583 
A nation dieth when dishonesty is the chief ruler. 



174 



1584 
^V^HEN sorrow sweeps the heart-strings the chords 
vM^ are minor, but when joy strikes them there is 
^^^ heard within and without a strain of melody 
that carries the mind to joy's own abode, where the 
happy gods prepare pleasure for whom they love. 

1585 
Fortitude should be sown in the youthful spring of 
hope, that a plentiful crop be garnered for the winter 
of discouragement. 

1586 
Plotting to do mischief is making ready to drop into 
trouble. 

1587 
A man is not required to count the leaves of the 
forest nor to number the sands of the sea, therefore 
in his allotment of years let him be content to learn 
better, fewer things. 

1588 
To have ideas and no words is a misfortune, but to 
have words and not ideas is a greater one. 

1589 
If human drones were treated after the manner of 
bees, behold the consternation and indignation in 
every hive. 

1590 
The frequency with which progress is assaulted by 
opposition proclaims a watchful enemy. 

1591 
Wherefore the lines in the face and the tracings of 
the hands? Are they the workings of chance? Nay, 
they are chapters from the book of life. 

1592 
The purpose of education is not more for the individual 
than for others. 

1593 
The highest tribute to beauty is respect. 



175 



1594 
The exercise of the intellect giveth man his happiest 
hours. To wander at will through the chambers of the 
mind affords him glimpses of paradise that the flesh 
is not permitted to behold. 

1595 
Lead me by the right hand into the wide fields of 
thought, where I may pluck at will the blossoms of 
eternal truth. 

1596 
To jump from error to truth with one bound is the 
greatest feat a mortal can accomplish. 

m 
1597 

Though every one loves a lover, a lover loves but one. 

1598 
True bliss is mental equipoise. 

1599 

Righteousness regards liberally and giveth a blessing 
every day. 

1600 

There are countless paths that lead to God, for no 
man treads another's. 

1601 

Instead of being what we seem, we are what we are. 

1602 
By way of merit it is many leagues to reward. 

1603 
Equipoise of mind is best maintained by mingling 
society and solitude in about equal proportions. 

1604 

To sift slander to the bottom requires time and labor 
which, if devoted to keeping oneself above it, would 
be more profitable, pleasurable and convincing of 
innocence. 



176 



1605 
/|^RESUMABLY only a small fraction of the 
M^sJ universe was made for man, and as yet he 
"^ adorns not his fraction with becomingness ; but 
when he shall have learned the great departments of 
his life, he shall have dominion over much and be 
master of himself, uplifted and uplifting. 

1606 
To always love thy neighbor is not easy, but severe is 
the penalty of hating him. 

1607 
Your opinions are your own ; be not too generous with 
them. ^ 

1608 

The willingness of love to do for hate is indicative of 
its godliness. 

1609 

There are many words to express ingratitude, but the 
baldness of speech to express gratitude is embar- 
rassing. 

1610 
The alphabet is a scenic railway winding along the 
foothills of knowledge upon which trains of thought 
are run from il to Z. 

1611 

That which is dreaded must not be invited by thought. 

1612 

The spirit of the loved goeth not into the darkness of 
the tomb, neither is it there that thou canst best 
commune with them, but in familiar places. 

1613 
Mild manners, like gentle showers upon the ground, 
lay the dust of discord and refresh the leaves of 
affection. 

1614 
He that resteth after each great mental effort pre- 
pareth for final victory. 



177 



1615 

^^>^ROWING beside the narrow path that we daily 
Cj[ tread are beautiful roses; even the most 
^^^^ fragrant have thorns that pierce, and sometimes 
we find a worm in a heart of velvet, yet 't is not the 
rose that offends, but the destroyer of it. Here, 
then, is found a lesson. 

1616 
Beyond the earth dawns the eternal day of gladness. 

1617 
According to our understanding do we accept or 
reject the advice of Nature. 

1618 
If our hearts are filled with all manner of evil, wherein 
is there room for good except by casting out the evil ? 

1619 

Slow turneth the wheels of knowledge, and slower yet 
moveth the chariot of wisdom on its straight and 
upward course. 

1620 
When in the company of health, the voyage of earth 
seemeth pleasant ; but when disease is a fellow traveler, 
our kind mariner makes it possible for us to disembark. 

1621 
From the roots of sorrow spring flowers. 

1622 
Vain is the desire to become great if born of limited 
capacity, but one may become good, however par- 
simonious has been Nature. 

1623 
He who permits indolence to slay ambition is accessory 
to crime. 

1624 

When thou findest a man who loves integrity more 
than gold, love thou him, for he is worthy. 



178 



1625 
O thou living and eternal mind, reveal to us more of 
thy magnificent plan of life, that we may more enjoy 
thee and thy works. 

1626 
Seek not to conceal thy shortcomings behind apologies. 

1627 

A coarse mind gathers more dust than a refined one. 

1628 
The proper way to bury scandal is to cast it into the 
depths of oblivion and evermore call not up the ghost. 

1629 
Nature loves her responsive children. 

1630 
Ignorance perceiveth not the glory that lieth around 
and about. 

1631 
Thoroughness depends not so much on temperament 
as on training. 

1632 
Enthusiasm is the handmaid of success. 

1633 
Mortal vision is so short that it extendeth not beyond 
the shadow of things. 

1634 
The perfect morn of a perfect day — when the purified 
soul transcends the limitations of earth. 

1635 
Up ! up ! up ! Forever and forever and forever. 

1636 

Beauty hath no real part in evil. 

1637 
Let us rest in the belief and be glad that the ways of 
Providence are governed by law and not by the 
petitions of men. 



179 



1638 
^Y^HEN we are more familiar with the laws of 
riy Nature, her ways will not seem so cruel when 
^^ she takes the form of a loved one and cradles 
it in her bosom. We shall say, ** Sleep, sleep ! '' and no 
more will our tears disturb the soft harmony of 
the lullaby that she singeth to a weary child. 

1639 

Whether it be near or far to the goal of success it is 
never downhill. 

1640 

Let us love both joy and sorrow, for they are the two 
friends appointed to accompany us. 

1641 
Boldness crowds into our path when we walk 
uprightly, a pleasant companion in both cloudy and 
fair weather. 

1642 
Whoso liveth without sin is God. 

1643 
The power of wealth is great, but the power of mind 
is over all. 

1644 
The shadow of ignorance is long and dark, and of it 
the thoughtful are sore afraid. 

1645 

Begin the day as thou shouldst, and end it calmly. 

1646 

The morals of each generation are sown by a preceding 
one, and it follows therefore that the quality of the 
crop depends on the seed ; then be it known that each 
individual is accountable to the future for the acts 
of the present. 

1647 
He who wages war on iniquity brings war upon him- 
self; nevertheless, let him battle, though he fall. 



180 



1648 
The way to happiness is through the door of duty. 

1649 

Show thou me a man who hath no pleasure in living, 
and I will show thee one who knoweth not how to live. 

1650 

Righteousness availeth more than armed guilt. 

1651 
He who forgetteth an enemy humbles him. 

1652 
If a man die, shall he live again? Verily, he must die 
to live. 

1653 

He who acquireth riches rapidly spendeth contemp- 
tuously. 

1654 
A birth is a sigh, a marriage a song, a death is a sigh 
and a song. 

1655 
They who mourn for their kin and will not be com- 
forted know but one world. Were they familiar with 
two they would say, " Death is kind.'' 

1656 

He who truly loves Nature truly loves himself. 

1657 
If thou findest a man lost to reason, do not attempt to 
restore him with argument. 

1658 

It is a long step from condescension to kindness. 

1659 

He that thinketh evil prepareth the body for many 
afflictions. 

1660 
A book acts on the mind either as a poison or as a 
food. 



181 



1661 

BPPARENTLY men are drifting on an ocean of 
experience, to be swallowed up by death. To 
the outer vision this is a truth, but the inner 
sight perceives that death is but the beginning of 
experience, and however many times a soul is endan- 
gered it will eventually reach the port of Paradise. 

1662 

A sweet disposition, like a fragrant flower, lades the 
air with delight. 

1663 
Thou mayest grieve for thy misspent time, but 
through all eternity it will not be restored to thee. 

1664 

One prefers to look like a fool than to act like one. 

1665 

Let thine efforts be governed by good sense. Prayer 
will not bring the rain out of a clear sky, nor will it 
stay the torrent when it is loosed. 

1666 
The stars above and the trembling earth beneath in 
everlasting revolutions are writing the word of God 
on the pages of the universe. 

1667 
When thou shalt have done with fashion, O mortal, 
take up art and cover thy nudity with beauty instead 
of novelty. 

1668 
They who walk in lust are treading a deadly morass 
which will engulf them though the way seem safe. 

1669 

There are many apples on the tree of thought, but 
not two alike. If therefore the one that I pluck 
resembles thine, or that which thou hast plucked 
hath the flavor of mine, let us not accuse one another 
of purloining, but of similar taste. 



182 



1670 

nOWSOEVER adroit the criminal, he will some 
day stand at the judgment of his own con- 
science, from whose sentence there will be no 
appeal. His trial may not be today nor tomorrow nor 
in a hundred years hence, but a thousand count as 
a flash in eternity and time will avenge every wrong 
done himself or another. 

1671 
Evil, familiarly called Satan, runs up and down the 
world in biped form seeking the company of bipeds, 
but will never foist companionship on any one unbid- 
den — not being fond of the upright, but loving well a 
cheat, a liar and a doer of mischief. 

1672 
It is a long distance to perfection, but there is no 
short cut across the fields of selfishness which lie 
around and about inclination. 

1673 
Those are they who will rejoice in the hour of their 
demise who, knowing good from evil, have done the 
good. 

1674 
Consider ye the orphan as an opportunity that 
Providence hath given thee to obey the golden com- 
mand. 

1675 
They who carry the burdens of others are they who 
help lift the world from savagery. 

1676 
Behind the door of death stands the reader of thy 
fate, and thou wilt perceive that thy destiny is just 
what thou writ from year to year, and that it is read 
verbatim et literatim. Thou must abide by it until 
thou canst preface and present another tablet. 

1677 
Deliverance from evil is the perception of truth* 



183 



1678 
Nature in her pleasant moods makes us forget the 
cruelty and suffering she can inflict when she is in a 
rage. 

1679 

So far as we can ascertain, vibration is accountable 
for all that is. 

1680 

All the Bibles in the world contain not one word from 
the living God. All that in them is are the feeble words 
of man asking some sign. All that is known has been 
found by diligent search. When we say that God 
reigneth we assert our belief and there should end all 
controversy. 

1681 

Wish not for riches that thou mayest have more, but 
that thou mayest do more good. 

1682 

Demand that thy spirit keep its mortal tenement in 
good repair. 

1683 

Fallacies are the playthings of earth's children, and 
the world today is a great nursery. 

1684 

Whatever path leads toward justice leads toward 
heaven, whether it be Jew, Pagan or Christian who 
follows it. 

1685 
There flew into the open window of my mind this 
mom a beautiful thought, swift from the deep forest 
of imagery ; but ere I could cage it, away it winged, 
and although I patient waited and entreated it in 
gentlest way, it would not return unto me. 

1686 
Beyond the mount of dissolution there lieth a vale 
of peace wherein the soul may rest and find strength 
for the morrow's journey toward the infinite. 



184 



1687 
Say ye when the gates of wealth swing wide for thee, 
and the gates of poverty open for another, that thou 
art a favorite of God and another accursed? Nay; 
that is not true, for it is evident that gold and silver 
enter not into the law. 

1688 

Death is the resurrection from pain into the joy of 
perfect health. 

1689 

He that soweth vice will reap disease. 

1690 

Snails travel slowly, but if they go as fast as they can, 
there is no fault to be found with the pace. 

1691 
Toleration and compassion are two qualities of mind 
that should be cultivated diligently, for each is 
beautiful, and without them men are void of true 
religion. 

1692 

Never cease to think well of men, though their deeds 
may not bear mention. 

1693 

I wot that the memory of ilSisdeeds will survive the 
memory of good deeds. 

1694 

Genius is seldom endowed with versatility. 

1695 
Let us not contemplate the trees in their despoilment, 
but think of them as ever fair and aglow with leaf 
and color. Thus let us view humanity. 

1696 
Did we have alternate days of Summer and Winter 
we might appreciate both ; but as we must take the 
weather as it comes, it were more philosophical to 
cease complaint and declare that whatever is is good. 



185 



1697 
^^^'HE sons and daughters of art and fiction labor 
^ J with the sunbeams and the moonbeams and 
^^^ the rain-clouds, turning them into graceful and 
fanciful designs, and existence is made more beauteous 
by festooning these decorations along the pathway of 
the caretakers. 

1698 
The reasoning mind under all circumstances is a 
sober mind, and the intoxicated mind under no cir- 
cumstances is a reasoning mind. 

1699 
Of what superfine quality of substance must be the 
spiritual body which encompasses the mortal body, 
not to be perceived by the natural eye. 

1700 
Fortune has knocked loud at many a door and has 
not been admitted by the master of the house. 

1701 
Be not too imitative, though thy model be perfect. 
Originality diminishes in proportion as it is sacrificed 
to copying. 

1702 
Conceit is a closer companion of ignorance than of 
learning. 

1703 
Subject thy religion and thy morals to the closest 
cross-examination day after day, and if thou receive 
not a clear and prompt answer thou wilt know there 
is a weak place that needs particular attention. 

1704 
How can sin be forgiven ! It may be overlooked by 
man, but God does not suspend a law ; hence the 
natural consequence must follow the violation of a 
law, and the sinner must bear the burden of his guilt 
imtil he adjusts himself to the laws of his being. 



186 



1705 
> — I^E men of prejudice, can ye give one plain 
^^X reason why old beliefs should be superior 
to new ? Or why an ancient chronicle should be 
more trustworthy than a modern one, or why a time- 
worn parchment of the First Century should contain 
more of divine guidance than a fresh manuscript of 
this century? 

1706 
Were the energy that is wasted on regrets used for 
directing new enterprises, it would bring forth more 
than repining and failure. 

1707 
The subtle force that is exerted over our lives by our 
own thoughts and the thoughts of others is a problem 
that we would do well to solve. 

1708 
Believe that the mind has power to correct the 
infirmities of the body and train it accordingly. 

1709 
A bungling operator transmits a bungling message ; 
therefore one should make due allowance for mistakes 
in all that is sent over the lines of gossip. 

1710 
A simpleton is he who pronounces cat, dog, or dog, 
cat; and why is not he who calls allegory fact? 

1711 
Sorrow and pleasure are always within call. 

1712 
We know not nor could we comprehend the how and 
the why of our being in this, our childhood. 

1713 
Give your best thoughts to the world, and whether 
the world be pleased or displeased it will spare time 
to inform you. 



187 



1714 
From celestial spheres thoughts float out through the 
ether, like pollen blown by the zephyrs, to fertilize 
the mind that is ready to receive. 

1715 
If a man would gather grapes he must walk in the 
vineyard. 

1716 

It is pleasurable to know the good and ever painful 
to know the bad. 

1717 
The closer we attend to our own affairs, the more is 
the public good conserved. 

1718 

Did the people know perfection they would abhor 
imperfection. 

1719 
Wherever severity may go it will encounter antago- 
nism. 

1720 
Contumely is the reward of ill-doing. 

1721 
Open the door of thy soul and look therein for beauty. 

1722 

When Thrift forsakes the cottage, Poverty moves in. 

1723 
If we are obliged to rub elbows with others, we need 
not abrade the cuticle. 

1724 
Could every disciple of art and literature have proper 
environment, the result would amaze and benefit the 
world. 

1725 
Innocence never seeks to harm sin, but sin seeks 
innocence to destroy. 



188 



1726 
THE ORGAN PRELUDE 

OH, subtle and harmonious chords, thou makest 
my heart-strings to answer thy weird call. 
Thou tellest me of agony in minor notes and 
of felicity in major strain. Thou speakest to me of a 
fair and distant realm, of a sphere of sweet sound — 
again of a world of sorrow and of waiting. Thou 
givest me courage when I faint, and thou movest my 
steps without fatigue when I am joyful. In throbbing 
rhythm thou tellest me of the onward march of man- 
kind through the Great Gates of Time, and leadest 
me to the very door of the eternal city, and there 
hear I harmony echoing through the sacred chambers. 
Dear chords, thou art divine, for thou dost bless and 
help. Whenever thy vibration reaches mine ear, my 
quickened soul responds to thy tenderest expression 
of love and to thy saddest appeal. 

1727 
Dull morals can only be sharpened by whetting the 
blade of understanding. 

1728 
When one has an appetite the fruit of knowledge does 
not cloy. 

1729 
Every one desiring silver and gold can not obtain it, 
but alas ! that learning were not the possession of all. 

1730 
So odd is much of the luggage carried to the ferry of 
death that many owners will be ashamed to claim it,, 
either on this side or on the other. 

1731 
Comparison and criticism are members of the same 
family. 

1732 
The lettered and the unlettered may predict, but 
none are infallible. 



189 



1733 
Oh, vain thought that man can run away from his 
own mind or escape the prickings of conscience! 
Then seek not to forget, but to overcome, if thou 
wouldst know peace. 

1734 
Fickleness has no conception of fideUty; with it 
existence is a nothingness and every day a farce. 

1735 
The people should require that every vacuous mind 
be forthwith stored. 

1736 
Consciousness of evil is growth in goodness. 

1737 
No advantage is gained by trying to ward off skepti- 
cism with well-turned phrases. Go out into the open 
and defend thy doubts with the strong right hand of 
facts. 

1738 
If you buy a pig in a bag and find him lean, do not 
cry out against your luck, but against your stupidity. 

1739 
More will be required of a man and a woman in the 
Twentieth Century to canonize them than was 
required in dark centuries, for as knowledge increases, 
ignorance will not be honored — saints will be fewer 
but wiser. 

1740 
Good books are as drops of pure water tossed from 
the perpetual fountain of mind into the great basin 
of humanity. 

1741 
Only reasoning minds can give reasonable opinions. 

1742 
To be forever at rest one must cease to think, and 
when one ceases to think one becomes a fool. Eternal 
rest therefore must be the FooFs Paradise. 



190 



1743 
^^5^HE past of man is of less importance than the 
^ J future. Heretofore, prevailing religion has been 
^^■^ a strong factor in forming his views of a coming 
state; but with religious evolution comes brighter 
pictures of the soul's abode. Hill and glade, bloom and 
brooklet, diversified pleasures and employment, 
homes and privacy, science, art and culture, and 
instead of endless burning an opportunity to grow : 
such is Twentieth-Century thought. And dost thou 
not prefer the new to the old, with its ceaseless 
torment and its maddening monotony? 

1744 
Begin the week as you should end it, and end it in 
such manner that you can begin another on a higher 
tone of the ascending scale of progress. 

1745 
Every blade of grass is a harp-string of Nature, and 
every leaf and bud are singing notes. 

1746 
Another thing I would add to the sense of hearing is 
perfect understanding. 

1747 
To be clever at one thing does not imply cleverness 
at two — this confidently believe. 

1748 
In proportion to the increase of intelligence will be 
the increase in morality. 

1749 
Nero was not more despotic than is appetite. 

1750 
Many stop at applause when on the road to fame. 

1751 
To think nobly one must live in an atmosphere of 
self-respect and self-restraint — yet one may so live 
and not think at all. 



191 



1752 
Worthless would be the argument that life is worth 
living without hope. 

1753 
The faults of others are as a glaring headlight — our 
own as a dark lantern. 

1754 

A person not accustomed to stand on ceremony is 
apt to fall off. 

1755 
In vain do we look for perfection, for God hath so 
concealed it that it will never be found. 

1756 
Inclination to paint others black shows a trace of 
savagism that partial civilization has not eliminated. 

1757 
It requires more care to be honest than to be dis- 
honest, and this may account for the preponderance 
of the latter sort. 

1758 
If fashion-mongers were drowned in the ocean of 
vanity, it would be accounted a calamity at first, but 
eventually it would be considered an interposition of 
a Kind Providence in behalf of the weary and care- 
laden. 

1759 
When the mortal sleepeth, the spirit worketh, but it 
telleth not its occupation. 

1760 

Knowledge is the front door of wisdom. 

1761 
To whom should we go for consolation when bereft 
of our beloved, except to them for whom we mourn ? 

1762 

A soul without spirituality is life at the frozen poles 
of existence. 



192 



1763 

OFT have I wondered why the approach of 
religion should lengthen the visage and make 
slow and serious the voice, and this have I 
concluded: The very truth will make the heart to 
sing and the lips to smile, and following this postulate 
takes one somewhere near the thought that the less 
of truth a creed contains, the more seriously its 
advocates and exponents feel called upon to sit in 
mournful judgment on others. 

1764 
It were better to put the metal of our composition in 
the countenance than in the heart, and when the 
world can read clearer it will learn that many do this. 

1765 
Silence is thy best helper when anger assaults. 

1766 
Liberate my soul, O dark night, and rock my form in 
the cradle of slumber until the god of day returns. 

1767 
When thou knowest much thy will hath dominion 
over the physical body, and when the physical is 
subjugated then the spirit walks toward the light. 

1768 
Bring me thoughts, O my spirit, from the eternal 
reservoir of mind, and give unto me understanding 
and power of expression that I may speak aright. 

1769 
Whether from Confucius, Buddha or Jesus, we can 
learn more direct and useful lessons from their words 
than are presented by the exponents of the creeds 
founded upon them, unless the speakers be animated 
by the spirit and dead to the letter. 

1770 
The soul will be fond of its future home if in the mind 
there lies content. 



193 



1771 

aNTIL such time as the wicked cease to do 
abomination they must grope in darkness and 
in uncleanness, and when they cease from 
sinning they have their own waking conscience to 
upbraid and rob them of peace. Verily the way of the 
transgressor is hard, and no reUgious system, however 
well devised and intentioned, can free man from the 
consequences of breaking the laws of life. 

1772 
As eternity is never-ending, man's work will never be 
finished nor his education complete. 

1773 
Thy life is not thine, that thou shouldst barter it, 
nor hast thou authority to extinguish it. 

1774 
The trials of life exceed the pleasures, but it is the 
trials that prepare us to render acceptable service to 
one another. 

1775 
The inner vision frequently contradicts that which 
the outer vision declares. 

1776 
The wise will drop conceit at the gate of learning. 

1777 
We are not apt to recognize a Judas until after we 
have been betrayed. 

1778 
Custom arbitrarily moves the mind, and amongst 
the weaker vessels of humanity its influence is stronger 
than reason. 

1779 
How long, O foolish ones, will you permit your 
thoughts to vibrate with the inharmonies of life? 
Until you will to vibrate in harmony with Nature's 
divine laws, is the plain answer. 



194 



1780 

OO I believe in Inspiration ? Yea ! Do I believe 
God ever conversed audibly with man? Nay! 
From all the inspired writings that have 
solaced my soul, I have never found a line worthy the 
Deity my mind hath pictured. Hast thou? Am I 
attacking Holy Writ ? Nay ; I am praising it, for when 
I say that man wrote it for man, I am reasonable ; but 
if I say that men wrote it for God, I defame Him. Thou 
mayest condemn me for confession, but my soul 
telleth me that God will not. 

1781 
He who tells a lie must prepare to defend it. 

1782 
Good logic invigorates the mind, but bad logic weakens 
it. 

1783 
Take steady aim when firing at success, that your 
efforts fly not wild and accidentally kill it. 

1784 
Get your facts into line, and your conclusions will be 
less refractory. 

1785 
To reply to an insult is like barking at a dog should 
he bark at you. 

1786 
Man's life is so interwoven with the planet on which 
he moves that the change called death probably will 
not altogether liberate him from it nor drive him into 
space to find lodgment beyond the call of love. 

1787 
They who mourn for their kin and will not be com- 
forted, know but one world. 

1788 
Grown children hide behind the door of policy when 
an unpopular cause approaches. 



195 



1789 

BMOST reasonable theory concerning the origin 
of man is evolution. From the primordial germ^ 
through a direct and distinct contact with 
matter, has he slowly traveled to his present condi- 
tion, which is but savagery to what he must become 
in the never-ending ages of eternity. At some point 
he began to grow in intellect and to unfold spiritually, 
but at no point will he likely cease to be or to grow* 

1790 
A false witness is the servant of lies. 

1791 
Loquacity begetteth indifference. 

1792 
Benignity of aspect must be accompanied by action 
if it would retain respect. 

1793 

Most desolate is Love forsaken, and its deepest cry 
is not heard beyond the portals of its own heart. 

1794 
Companionship is mental safety. 

1795 
There is no progress in ignorance nor happiness in 
stagnation. 

1796 
A vigorous mind finds leaping more exhilarating than 
creeping. 

1797 
He that speaketh with sympathy to the needy is 
heard in realms above. 

1798 
To walk in semi-darkness towards Deity is man's 
destiny. 

1799 
Those with whom we played in the Springtime of 
life we rejoice to meet in the Autumn. 



196 



1800 

EAR away in the silent and undiscovered regions 
of science there are concealed marvelous things 
of which the mind of man in its present unfold - 
ment can not have conception, neither could he utilize 
were he permitted to possess ; but in millions of years 
hence he will have need of such knowledge that he 
may exist, and then will he be given freedom to 
explore and appropriate. 

1801 
In man's diligent search for the key that unlocks the 
secret door of mind, vast storehouses of knowledge 
have been discovered, but the key still remains 
hidden, and I wot that it will not be found by prying 
man until man shall become like unto God. 

1802 

Love is reciprocal, but its counterfeit is not. 

1803 

We are in heaven or hell according as we will. 

1804 
A lively tilt with opposition strengthens determina- 
tion. 

1805 

Men shrink from slavery, yet pray unceasingly for 
money wherewith to bind their souls. 

1806 

Let me hear thy voice, O my spirit, and tell thou me 
of myself, and whether thou wilt leap with me when 
the mortal sun passes the horizon. 

1807 
Preparedness is the beginning of action. 

1808 

A man of letters is not always a revealer of wisdom. 

1809 

Indolence hath fangs and inflicts its own death. 



197 



1810 
^^i^HE frequency with which mortals inquire for 
^ J tidings from the beyond indicates that com- 
^^^ munication must hereafter be regularly estab- 
lished ; for when once a desire takes hold of the people, 
they rest not until it has been accomplished ; and as 
only a few of the possibilities of life have yet been 
achieved, no one should account this among the 
impossibilities, but as one of the delightful proba- 
bilities. 

1811 

Conceal thy sins, lest thou teach another. 

1812 
Good night, my soul ! When thou returnest with the 
morrow's sunrise, tell me of thy hours when thou wert 
absent from my sleeping form. 

1813 
There are sorrows that can be understood only by 
God and thee ; and though every one may perceive 
thy pain, thy secret and thy silence are respected. 

1814 
Be fearless in the extension of mercy and slow in 
withholding. 

1815 
Is reincarnation true? I wot not. It would imply 
dearth of raw material in God's laboratory ; and what 
could be gained by passing through the matrix of 
earth life after the spirit is liberated by the process 
of death to unfold in a clearer atmosphere? 

1816 
Evolution of mind makes clear much that was incom- 
prehensible to the childhood of the race. 

1817 
Very gently, my soul, lead thou me hence, that I may 
not be afraid, and that I may know the way should I 
wish to return to tell another of my journey. 



198 



1818 

HET us imagine the world for a day were every 
individual in it bent on good and every thought 
of evil obliterated. Some day this dream may 
come to pass; there is no reason why it should not 
when truth prevails. And what is truth? The truth 
is a perfect understanding of the law in its application 
to humanity. 

1819 
Early in life fix thine abode, for better a crust under 
thine own roof than a feast from the hand of charity. 

1820 
Whithersoever a man goeth with vice, sorrow will 
follow. 

1821 
To conceal transgression leads to trangression. 

1822 
To be intimate with cruelty ends in degradation, 

1823 
If you can not see through the hedge, climb it before 
describing the adjoining fields, or say not at all. 

1824 

Give me thine heart, says love, and I will give thee 
mine. Give me thine heart, says selfishness, that I may 
have two. 

1825 
A long run from danger makes close friends of the 
runners. 

1826 
With variety comes pleasure, but overmuch pleasure 
brings satiety, and then appears the demon of unrest. 

1827 
If thy mind be crooked thy acts will be. 

1828 

Apprehension rough-rides the mentality of both the 
rich and the poor. 



199 



1829 

Condensed thought stimulates, verbosity enervates. 

1830 

Name one the effect, and many will name the cause. 

1831 

What is the meaning of my longing heart? Whence 
these sighs and why these tears? The mortal life is 
filled, the spiritual lamp is burning, but alone I wait 
my destiny. 

1832 

Forget not, O living spirit, that the mortal hath 
curiosity concerning thy going out and thy return to 
thy house of clay in the evening and the morning 
of every day. 

1833 

Life is a riddle that hath many answers, but which 
one is the true no one knoweth, or whether or not it 
hath been given ; therefore dispute not and multiply 
answers. 

1834 

He that delighteth to destroy another worketh his 
own destruction, for of the thought that he project 
that shall he also receive. 

1835 
The opportunity for character-building is free to 
everybody. 

1836 
To sin betrays mental and moral weakness, and weak- 
ness is imperfection or ignorance. Man does evil 
because he does not know enough to do right. Am I 
contradicted? I again repeat that if he knew the 
ultimate of evil, he would fear to do it, but being 
ignorant he ventures. 

1837 

As we are the product of law, so are we subject to law. 

1838 

Why fret and retard all good ? 



200 



1839 

Hilarity leadeth to excess, and excess leadeth to 
hilarity. Join not thou the dizzy world, lest thou fall 
and be trampled on. 

1840 
Open the book, kind Fate, and point with thy pro- 
phetic finger on the unread pages of the eternity that 
lies before me. I would not pry, but I would learn of 
thee that I may make my life more pleasing to the 
most high Counselor of Destiny. 

1841 
The placing of thine eyes upon a star lifts thy mind 
above littleness. 

1842 

The fashion of turning up one's nose at one's neighbor 
is very old and very ugly. 

1843 
Who are they who speak evil one of another except 
they who think evil tilings ? 

1844 
Principle is always at war with dishonesty, though 
the victory is not always to itself. 

1845 

A lean mind should excite more pity than a lean body. 

1846 
Spite engenders brutality. 

1847 
A shrewd commentator regards the present, a wise 
one regards the future. 

1848 

The mortal burden-carrier can travel easier with a 
ton of good deeds than with a pound of bad deeds. 

1849 
Many a man cloaks himself with money and goes 
about with a naked soul. 



201 



1850 

Caution will go a long way toward safety from sheer 
habit. 

1851 
'T is said that love is blind. Nay ; love is kind and 
though perceiving defects would conceal them from 
all the world. 

1852 

Knowledge is not veneer, but though solid it may be 
without polish. 

1853 
A grain of folly will cost thee more than a full measure 
of prudence in any mart. 

1854 
If thou wouldst have children perfect, present to 
them perfection. 

1855 

Scorn begetteth hatred, and hatred doeth no man good. 

1856 

The exercise of justice enlargeth the mind. 




202 



BOOK SIX 




1857 

JEACE and war ! War and Peace ! 
Thus swings the great pendulum 
of human destiny ; and were it to 
cease swinging, would man cease 
to advance ? Answer, ye who know. 
I venture to say that when he 
ceases to be warlike he will be- 
come more spiritual, and then 
would he glory more in the power 
of mind than in destructive machinery, 

1858 
It is not a whit wiser to imagine the improbable than 
the probable. 

1859 
He that runneth with an open mouth must swallow 
some dirt. 

I860 
Superstition delighteth in a full belief in itself and a 
contempt for its superiors. 

1861 

Greed with a swift step and a quick eye may over- 
take simplicity at any turning. 

1862 
When the wolf is growling at the door, he must be 
driven away with sermons without words. 

1863 

As storms are predicted, so are all the calamities in 
life if we could read them. 

1864 
The hostages of fortune are most erratic, advancing 
and receding with tantalizing uncertainty, which 
maketh a man to wonder much whether he control 
or whether he be not the plaything of chance. 

1865 
A little nonsense eases much monotony. 



205 



1866 
Calm is the sea beneath its ruffled bosom, and so 
would we find the soul could we look deep enough. 

1867 

Though hallowed may be the past, most glorious is 
the present, which must soon be the past. 

1868 

Though a man breathe, he may not live ; but if he 
live, naught can destroy him. 

1869 

Regard thine honor as thy life, and be not persuaded 
that honor lies upon thy sleeve to be challenged and 
wounded, but that it is a jewel hid between God and 
thee. 

1870 
The public will applaud hypocrisy rather than indif- 
ference. 

1871 
As a dash of seasoning rouses the palate, so a dash of 
variety rouses the spirit. 

1872 
When following a premise to a conclusion, be sure 
the premise is in line with fact — otherwise you will 
arrive at the wrong station. 

1873 
One might as well hold aloft a brier-brush to keep off 
the rain as to walk about with complaining to keep 
off adversity. 

1874 
Melancholy refuses a cheerful antidote and would 
die of its own poison. 

1875 
It is safer to walk behind a bull than in front of him ; 
and it holds true in most worldly affairs that it is 
safer to drive than to be driven. 



206 



1876 
Most fortunate is the possessor of principle, for of 
it he standeth in need every day. 

1877 
Servility is begotten of inferiority. 

1878 
Whoso borroweth trouble payeth in advance. 

1879 
More evils are conquered by teaching than by fighting. 

1880 

Though the flavor of a religion may be enhanced by 
faith, its quality may not be. 

1881 

Authority held with a scourge can not endure. 

1882 
If one enters the garden of prosperity at the dawning, 
he may depart therefrom before the meridian, unless 
most faithfully advised. 

1883 
If thou wipest the brow of inferiority today thou 
mayest wipe the feet tomorrow. 

1884 
If adversity leap upon the high horse of prosperity 
suddenly, walk the steed to avoid accident. 

1885 
At the foot of the tree of life is coiled the serpent of 
lust, and as yet no mortal hath crushed it. 

1886 
Gold hath no affinity for good nor for evil : it is the 
man who holdeth it. 

1887 
A hero in his own country may be a barbarian in 
another. 



207 



1888 
Vulgarity shineth not beyond its own domain. 

1889 

Love records less of its doings than hate. 

1890 

The public has a prying ear, and there is little of 
secrecy where there is much evil. 

1891 

Hold to a certainty, saith caution ; but reach for a 
higher notch, saith ambition. 

1892 

The latest fad may be the silliest ; consider therefore 
before adopting. 

1893 
The lash injures the spirit of both the chastised and 
the chastiser. 

1894 

To dodge from pillar to post is graceful only when 
accomplished with profit. 

1895 
The good man hath as many enemies as the bad man, 
which is too many for them by the whole number. 

1896 
The strength of individual greatness is felt more by 
the masses than by the possessor. 

1897 
One nimble mind will outrun two nimble feet. 

1898 
It is a long way from what is to what should be ; but 
it will yet be traversed by society, led by justice and 
morality. 

1899 

The bump of caution can be abnormally developed 
by the blows of experience. 



208 



1900 

XF the Heavenly Father were angry with His 
earthly children, how easy a matter to have 
given them more understanding and save 
temper. Nay, the Heavenly Father knoweth not 
anger, and it were an error so to speak. 

1901 

Think, and let no mortal prevent thee. 

1902 
The applause of millions is not greater nor more 
pleasing than the applause of conscience. 

1903 

Every eye hath its own vision, and every ear heareth 
a different story. 

1904 

When all the people can cruise in luxury, then may 
it be said money has reached a dead calm. 

1905 
All religionists are given more to prayer than to 
practise. 

1906 
In all departments of life more is thought than is 
done, and by this law if good is restrained, so is evil. 

1907 
Dishonor rests on theft, and its shadow lieth low on 
avarice. 

1908 
Every motion hath a meaning, though few be regarded 
and fewer understood by maker or beholder. 

1909 
Perhaps man will know some day why man who lives 
on a rolling sphere in space points upward to heaven 
by night and by day, and never otherwise. 

1910 
Behavior unbecoming the gift of life unbecomes man. 



209 



R 



1911 

XTRAVAGANT giving leadeth to want as 
truly as profligacy; therefore consider thy 
^^^^ gifts, and be not persuaded that thou must 
change places with the beggar who asketh of thee 
thy all. 

1912 
Patience is a beautiful flower oft found in the noisome 
soil of incurability. 

1913 
The philosopher will attribute his failures to himself: 
the capricious will attribute them to anything else. 

1914 
There is only one law that makes men equal : it is 
called equality of spirit, and there is none other that 
permits them to fraternize harmoniously and with- 
out interruption. 

1915 
Smile upon misfortune and thou mayest persuade 
misfortune to smile sooner upon thee. 

1916 
The ancients knew not one whit more about man's 
future than the moderns, therefore give ear to the 
present as thou hast to the past to avoid narrowness. 

1917 
Man's imagination is never more fantastic than in 
the future and unknown realms. 

1918 
It is not necessary to pass through every experience 
to gain an understanding: observation gives the 
needful lesson if we but heed. 

1919 
Before committing thyself to action, look well to the 
end — a lion may be there. 

1920 

Time is Nature's avenger. 



210 



1921 
^^^'^EGARD not heaven as all and the earth as 
1^^ naught, for both are a part of the whole and 
*^""^ one is as worthy consideration as the other ; 
live not carnally, but spiritually, and thou wilt 
enjoy one and inherit the other. 

1922 
Thy thoughts may dwell upon heaven, but never 
upon hell, for that is to think degradingly. 

1923 
Before defaming another, examine thyself and thou 
may est hesitate. 

1924 
The fount of song is ever overflowing, for both clean 
and unclean streams trickle into it. Of the clean, 
quaff freely ; but of the unclean, one draught will 
pollute. 

1925 
Beauty may express itself through evil, but falsely. 

1926 
The advance of civilization is not freakish, but 
according to a steady law which no religious hierarchy 
may with propriety claim to have set in motion. 

1927 
The testimony of a king hath no more weight than 
the testimony of a peasant regarding a future life. 

1928 

If a man break not the ethical law, he may not fear 
to die. 

1929 
A poor servant indeed who must be lashed into 
obedience. 

1930 
As each man lives on earth, so must it be with him 
when translated. This is not popular theology, but 
it is consistent and it was not thoughtlessly writ. 



211 



1931 

HOR what reason would we have others think as 
we? Is it from great faith in ourselves? Is it 
from benevolence, or is it from a desire to 
dominate? It would be well to analyze motives before 
proceeding too far into the rightful domain of another. 

1932 
A songbird may carol on a dead branch, but who 
would remember the branch and forget the song? 

1933 

They who rob the form of sleep may live to weep. 

1934 
In the garden of the soul there is a hidden spring of 
wisdom, the finding of which is the sacred duty of 
every individual, and to him who drinketh abundantly 
there is abiding health and no death. 

1935 
Sectarian proselyting to gain strength by numbers 
seemeth wrong to any one who reasons that secta- 
rianism is not religion. 

1936 
The Omnipotent is no respecter of personal belief. 
The law reigneth regardless of small opinions. 

1937 
If a man can not believe all of the several great 
religions of earth, he may extract the essence of each 
and have more of truth than he who is filled with 
any one which hath only a fraction. 

1938 
The lowliest home may invite love to abide therein, 
but love will not remain with discord. Harmony is its 
life. 

1939 
A dishonest fortune is the weight that will at last 
drown its possessor in the dead sea of remorse. 



212 



1940 
No man will ever become great who hides behind the 
door of opportunity when it is open for him to pass 
out. 

1941 
To gratify every wish is to invite discontent. 

1942 
Beware of him who proclaims his friendship boister- 
ously : the true love-song is sweet and low, and the 
listeners few. 

1943 

There is no surer way of destroying thy life than to 
live aimlessly. 

1944 

Homilies suffer most when confronted with logic. 

1945 

Fashion could not stand were it not supported by 
the weak. 

1946 

To defy traditions and stand firmly on the rock of 
personal conviction is the first step toward individual 
freedom. 

1947 
A man appeareth rich or poor according to the spirit 
within him. 

1948 
The pleasure of getting to give is so much greater 
than the pleasure of getting to keep that they who 
have tried the first regard the last with honest pity. 

1949 
The cuticle of falsehood is so tough that it can not 
always be pierced with a single word of truth. 

1950 
That the billows of fame will roll high on many shores 
beyond this is a most encouraging thought to the 
diligent student who finds one life too short to com- 
plete his lesson. 



213 



1951 
To be carried along the line of least resistance often 
ends in moral and mental weakness. 

1952 

Who would affirm that doubters are less honest than 
believers ? 

1953 

If thou canst meet thy adversary with urbanity,, 
thou hast dulled his blade. 

1954 
The perspicuity of reason is often overshadowed by 
faith. 

1955 
Meddlesome are the pudding-sticks of society — they 
stir the whole mass. 

1956 

Vanity concemeth itself much about itself and 
accordeth little praise to another. 

1957 
Persecution is as savage as ever; but like other 
ferocious beasts, it has been driven back by civiliza- 
tion and its attacks are less frequent than of yore. 

1958 

A cackling hen betrayeth a secret when she would 
hide it — so likewise a garrulous friend. 

1959 

If you would win, run when opportunity bids and 
stop when it bids. 

I960 

Avarice loves none truly but itself. 

1961 

The method of a man's labor indexes his mind. 

1962 

The fatalist may abide happily in his belief, but he 
is not rich with hope. 



214 



1963 

^w^HEN the rainbow arches the heavens, not as a 
V 1 ^ P^o^^se but as an effect, should mortals behold 
^^^^ the beautiful phenomenon of light — and this 
is right because it is true, for whatever is false is 
wrong to entertain. 

1964 
The imitator should possess discrimination ; because 
a porcupine wear his quills upright, an eagle may not. 

1965 
Labor that degrades morals should be dispensed with 
by public accord. 

1966 

Thought is sorely afraid of a brazen tongue. 

1967 
Let thy soul, like the lark, sing as it soars upward 
in the morning light of the new knowledge that shines 
over the fearsome night of superstition when foolish 
man said that God was wrathful. 

1968 
No man can hoodwink law. He may drink poison 
under belief that it is not, but his belief will not 
prevent physical consequences; and the violation 
of a spiritual law under false belief must also prove 
disastrous, as it must bring an inviolable result. 

1969 

As a plant rewards care with more perfect bloom, so 
does humanity. 

1970 
Consanguinity does not end with blood. The relation- 
ship of mind is a closer tie. 

1971 
One may wheedle one's own mind and not know it* 

1972 
The habit of indolence is strong to slay. 



215 



1973 
A high thought occasionally emanates from a low 
mind, but a low mind does not emanate from high 
thoughts. 

1974 
Men are always trying to impose upon Nature ; but 
that that Dame is not to be hoodwinked, is the 
lesson that he is longest to learn. 

1975 
When servants ride in chaises and masters walk, 
then will contention cease and sphinxes talk. 

1976 
If you prefer faith to knowledge it is as though you 
accepted a promise instead of a gift. 

1977 
Whether it be preferable to think evil or not to think 
at all, only God knows. 

1978 
A copious draught of logic offered by a fair hand 
would prevent many a weakling from falling from 
decency. 

1979 
Though thy name be unjustly injured, thy soul can 
never be. 

1980 
Take comfort in the thought that thou art a part of 
God and have been assigned a place in the universe 
which thou art to find. 

1981 

Link thy life with purity, and thou wilt assuredly 
reach bliss. 

1982 

It is no easier to leap from a church-spire than from 
a flagstaff: be not persuaded to rash experiment. 

1983 

Possibilities are everywhere : it is in the selection that 
one showeth wisdom above another. 



216 



1984 

That God, Nature and man are a trinity appears 
indisputable and indissoluble. 

1985 

Inasmuch as ye lack honor ye are contemptible, 

1986 

Keep thine own mind clean, lest another rebuke thee. 

1987 

It taxes the mental agility of the idealist to the 
utmost, when forced by circumstances, to jump from 
an elevated train of thought to the hard plane of 
realities and not shatter his ideals. 

1988 

One moment of self-administered reproof each day 
might restore many worthless lives to usefulness. 

1989 

It is the inheritance of principle that makes a man 
rich even unto the day of his departure — ^and who 
will say that he may not carry his possessions hence ? 

1990 

Science must eventually overcome any cult that 
antagonizes it. 

1991 

A boaster and a pretender — what can be said of 
them that would grace a page? 

1992 

For what reasons are traditions flaunted except to 
bind? If a man desire religious and political freedom, 
he must refuse tradition and be moved by principles 
only. 

1993 

Most blank and drear world were it without music, 
pictures and books. 

1994 
Hatred growls, but love answers with a kiss. 



217 



1995 

If thou art tender toward all, regret will never prod 
thee. 

1996 

Be not over-confident before investigation. A hen 
frequently cackles from fright. 

1997 
Blest are they who can lose the worries of yesterday 
and walk with the new day. 

1998 

With a swift tongue and a violent hand a man is not 
the best equipped for success. 

1999 
Gird thy loins for a fierce battle whenever thou 
beholdest tyranny affecting piety. 

2000 

When the supply of sympathy is not equal to the 
demand, it is customary to offer a counterfeit — a 
most unholy proceeding. 

2001 

Ignorance is a constant danger, therefore the safety 
of a people depends on individual intelligence. 

2002 

It is a difficult thing to restore confidence with 
apology, or to heal a wound with regrets. 

2003 

It is easier to retain thy possessions than to regain 
them. 

2004 
If thou ask of a beggar a penny, be not disappointed 
if he refuse thee. Look for assistance in likely places. 

2005 

Select thy companions with much care, least it be 
incumbent to assort them afterward. 



218 



2006 

Though with much solitude may come reflection, 
discontent may also intrude. 

2007 

Sin is long-enduring : as neither blood nor water will 
wash away the stain of guilt, it must wear out with 
time and much effort. 

2008 
In a degree, contentment is everywhere present, and 
there is no more welcome guest on earth than this 
true companion of man. 

2009 

As lost time can not be regained, see to it that thou 
press forward resolutely. 

2010 
Though poverty chase a man all his life, it need not 
overtake him. 

2011 

The voice of folly may be sweeter than the voice of 
prudence, but be not deceived by melodious sounds 
that proceed from an unknown source. 

2012 

If thou will to be rich, thou may not be ; but if thou 
will to be good, thou may be, for righteousness 
depends on thyself alone. 

2013 

Lo, a peace comes with quietude that vanishes with 
noise. 

2014 
Thrust not a hand into thy neighbor's pocket without 
permission, and invariably withdraw it before being 
bidden. 

2015 
Of a life if it accomplish nothing but the satisfying 
of physical wants it must be written, ** However 
thus successful, true success has not been attained." 



219 



2016 

A man is no taller when he stands upon a pedestal, 
though he may gain in appearance and estimation. 

2017 
When thou findest a good idea, use it honestly. 

2018 

The effrontery of ignorance is made bearable by its 
source. 

2019 

When preachers* acts and words do not agree, intended 
game runs nimbly up a tree. 

2020 
Be not in haste to swallow gossip ; as it cools, much of 
its poison evaporates. 

2021 

Ask of no man a favor if thou wouldst be king of 
thyself. 

2022 

Whether a truth be offered thee by Pagan, Jew, 
Christian or Rationalist, accept it thankfully. One 
is as near God as another. 

2023 

It matters not what the guise of evil, spurn it that 
good may come. 

2024 

A boat with an occupant occasions little comment — 
not so, however, an empty boat. It is not always 
what is seen, but what is not seen, that mirrors in 
the imagination and sets it adrift. 

2025 

One way to enfeeble the mind is never to exercise it 
in new domains of thought, but to bind it fast to that 
which another generation taught. 

2026 

When the car of progress comes along, step aboard. 
It is more refreshing to ride than to run behind. 



220 



2027 
What is it to thee if another fail? If thou wilt add 
one drop of ink to a glass of water, the clearness of 
the fluid is changed and thy answer appears. 

2028 

Find thou a cure for selfishness and dose the many. 

2029 

If thou desirest defeat, tell of thy weakness. 

2030 
There is nothing to prevent running uphill but 
commonsense, and this saves from more folly than 
aught else. 

2031 

Keep a close mouth in strange company, or thou 
mayest disclose to an enemy a vulnerable point. 

2032 

Concentration of thought comes with effort; there- 
fore, the only way to concentrate is to concentrate. 

2033 
The grandeur of life is not apparent to the masses, 
whose appetites are those of the body. 

2034 

The facts of religion are so few and the beliefs so 
many, it were not a wonder that there are so many 
doubters, but so few believers. 

2035 
Sacrifice nothing of thyself to gain an insight into 
another world ; but if thou wish to accomplish occult 
feats, add to thy individuality until thy cubit is above 
thy surroundings. 

2036 

So various are the duties of man to man that they 
can not be contained in any rule, but this can each 
man remember: to measure another's virtues with 
the same rod that he useth to measure his faults. 



221 



2037 
The largest game is not found in the tallest trees — 
sometimes a shot is missed by looking too high. 

2038 

It defileth self-respect to lean, therefore perfect 
health is right; and if any part of it hath escaped, 
not in potions but in Nature's laboratory will that 
which is lost be found. 

2039 
The full meaning of cleanliness has never yet been 
thoroughly defined ; when it is and the lesson learned 
and universally applied, there will be no more trouble 
from divers sources. 

2040 
When the flame flickers in the lamp of hope, see that 
the flame goes not out, leaving thee in the darkness 
of despair. 




222 



BOOK SEVEN 



m 


^^m 


^te 





2041 
BELIEF in a future life makes 
happier this for them who beUeve 
God is just and will eventually 
draw all men unto Himself, 
instead of giving the larger part 
of His family to an enemy; but 
they who entertain the notion that 
the majority of His children are 
doomed to eternal suffering can 
have no true happiness here nor expectation of any 
hereafter, and to such sufferers are we bound in 
pity to pray that they may see the impurity of their 
belief and come to a holier one. 

2042 

Want builds more fortunes than plenty. 

2043 
When expecting riches, train thyself as becometh one 
to whom much is given, that much may be expended 
judiciously and without selfish motive. 

2044 

When facts are lost, time uses conjecture. 

2045 
Whining is the infant's privilege ; but who would 
accord it to adults unless infancy had come again? 

2046 
Happiness comes not from a visible but from an 
invisible source. 

2047 
The populace should run from scandal as from con- 
tagion, but, alas ! it runs toward it as though its 
breath were health. 

2048 

The wise man talks at the right time ; the foolish 
man talks at the wrong time : in this lies the advantage 
of the first over the other. 



225 



2049 

It were not well to speak of old age in the presence of 
failure, lest the unfortunate, being in years, count the 
remaining days and try no more. 

2050 
No one admires a liar except it be himself. 

2051 

Lies the conscience within the temple of the body or 
without it? Methinks without it, and that it taps the 
brain when it desires to speak. 

2052 
Penitence can not obliterate wrongdoing. 

2053 

Take not from one to give to another. Honesty before 
generosity. 

2054 

Lust is discord, and better that its notes were never 
struck. 

2055 
Remorse is man's relentless enemy, pursuing him 
even after death if he hath done aught against him- 
self or his brother that is injurious. This believe. 

2056 

Pour not thy troubles into a saphead nor make a 
confidant of thy servitor, lest the hour come when thy 
secrets are spilled by careless handling. 

2057 
Where goeth truth, there goeth safety. 

2058 
A most implacable foe of civilization is stationary 
religion. 

2059 
A gap in memory is frequently filled with imagination. 

2060 

How short the ferry from fifty to the shore ! 



226 



2061 
Nothing more disturbs the mind than doubt, and 
many are content to have their questions answered 
by the political and religious machines made for that 
purpose. 

2062 
The little that is known came not without the asking, 
and the much that will be known will come only with 
persistent knocking for entrance at the door of 
mysteries. 

2063 
If thou wouldst ask favor of time obey Nature. 

2064 

A first glimpse of poverty may be ludicrous, but a 
second is always serious and dark of shadow. 

2065 
If a bird fly high, it is a bird's privilege ; and thou 
canst not give a reason why he should fly low, 
unless thou hast design to snare. 

2066 
Ambition when it runs toward the bad is more difficult 
to check than when it runs toward good ; in the latter 
case it may be turned by a shake of the head, whilst 
in the former it runs till it falls. 

2067 
If thou desirest adulation earn it, and it will not make 
thee so ridiculous to receive it. 

2068 

If thou art determined to leap across the moat to 
reach the castle, measure thy ability as well as the 
moat; success depends as much upon the man as 
upon the span. 

2069 
Flowers bloom beside virtue's path, but however 
much they may be tended they will not bloom beside 
vice. 



227 



2070 
As no man knoweth the source of life, no man know- 
eth God, however much he may prate. 

2071 
Between smiles and tears there is scarce a line ; erase 
it and they blend. 

2072 
Attempt not great things unprepared : a needle will 
not harpoon a whale. 

2073 
To labor for love seemeth play : to labor for principle 
with the added weight of hatred and persecution 
maketh the stoutest spirit to bend with the agony. 

2074 
Disturb not thy neighbor with religious harangue, 
and permit him not to disturb thy peace ; for if ye 
both look not further than books for authority, none 
resteth with thee that thou shouldst attack each other. 

2075 
Dress argument plentifully with oil, but sparingly 
with vinegar, that it be of more agreeable flavor. 

2076 

Thou canst ape good manners if thou wouldst pos- 
sess them, but thou canst not possess thyself in the 
same way of much else that is good to have. 

2077 
Every thought upward cast enriches thee. 

2078 
God's habitation is as much here as there ; as much 
there as here. There is no place that hath more of 
His presence than another. 

2079 

Whoso grumbleth listeneth to a doleful sound. 

2080 

He that winketh at evil hath an eye to enjoy it* 



228 



2081 

A life uninterrupted by duty would be as monotonous 
as the river which flows involuntarily into the sea. 

2082 

Believing that God is just, be Godlike. 

2083 
When once drawn into the eddy of indiscretion, it is 
oftener a youth sink than he be saved. 

2084 

Twice times one fault are two faults, which are two 
too many. 

2085 
When God is not, life is not. 

2086 
It is vain to oppose truth, however much it may con- 
flict with one's previous convictions. 

2087 
Better a day without meat than a day without 
reflection. 

2088 

Follow a hero many days and his glory diminishes. 

2089 

Act with as much decorum now as you expect to when 
you reach heaven. 

2090 
The right kind of literature would abolish wars. 

2091 
Miracle has been an important factor in past religions, 
but it is safe to say that in its day and generation it 
was not believed ; and not until musty with antiquity 
is it respected and accepted by faith alone. 

2092 

The safest artifice that woman ever used against man 
is devotion. 



229 



2093 

Hurl anathemas at vice, but never at individuals : one 
is harmless ; the other is vicious. 

2094 
A rich inheritance — a spirit of fairness — then thou 
wilt give and take just enough, and justice will neither 
be offended with thy profligacy nor with thy parsi- 
mony. 

2095 
Let not thine infirmities deter thee from drawing at the 
wellspring of knowledge : a broken vessel may hold 
some water. 

2096 

Plan no deceit, lest it become easy. 

2097 
Confine not thy mind to one or two worlds, but beyond 
the earth give it freedom to consider them as the 
sands of the desert, and thyself as a traveler who may 
tarry awhile in countless numbers. 

2098 

Spontaneous wit is more combustible than that which 
is green with age. 

2099 
Have a care lest frivolity cheat thee of time which is 
not thine own to lose, but of which thou hast been 
entrusted to grow a soul worthy of inspection. 

2100 
Rest takes flight in the midst of the multitude and 
returns again with pleasure in solitude. 

2101 
Death is the blossoming of a soul. 

2102 
Because of grumbling a grumbler gets scarce his 
share of joy. 

2103 
Good is the outcome of experience. 



230 



2104 
^^^HIS is the dawn of the Twentieth Century. I 
^ J prophesy not of things material, but of things 
^^^ spiritual. I predict that the hand of man will 
reach upward until it is clasped by the unseen, and 
that revelations will be received of the hereafter that 
will put away forever the meagerness of the past. 

2105 
If thou wouldst avoid annoyance act with ordinary 
sense in directing the course of thy servant. Thou 
canst lead a mule by his head, but thou canst not by 
his heels. 

2106 
Man's inability to select his ancestors ought to make 
all men decent. 

2107 

What hurts an honest man more than loss is the 
thought that he can no longer trust his brother-man 
but must regard him as a cheat. 

2108 
When science shall prove immortality, the world will 
rest in peace. 

2109 
Prayer availeth in this way : though it may not calm 
the storm, it calms the mind. 

2110 

Happier is he who sings for his dinner than he who 
cries for it, and quite as sure is he of getting it. 

2111 

Vanity, alas ! is ofttimes pleased to work in the garb 
of charity. 

2112 
No one need expect to enter paradise on the shoulders 
of another. 

2113 
Whatsoever the world chooses to think of thee think 
well of thyself, and it will eventually agree. 



231 




2114 
ifOME one has said that true marriages are made 
in heaven; another that there is neither mar- 
riage nor giving in marriage there. Science has 
not yet invaded the domain of matrimony ; but when 
it does, right marriages will be made on earth; then 
men and women will not be permitted to please them- 
selves regardless of posterity, and the troubles of 
mankind will be half over. 

2115 

Life is a poem, and 't is well that all its lines are not 
a monotone, but are both grave and gay, that all 
tire not of the song. 

2116 

Starve not thy soul when it hungers for knowledge, 
e'en though the gaining of knowledge rob thee of all 
beliefs thy ancestors have bequeathed thee. 

2117 
When the air is redolent of sweets. Nature is breath- 
ing a benediction upon man. 

2118 

If age rocks and dreams, youth will soon be doing 
likewise, and let youth considerately remember this. 

2119 

Thou canst not think well of thyself if thy life be 
unclean. 

2120 

A true history of famine will never be written ; those 
qualified by experience to tell it are not. 

2121 

If the parson turn out a poor grist, perchance the fault 
lieth with him that he draweth not more custom. 

2122 

One may lust basely, but no one may love basely, for 
it hath been determined that love shall not be unholy. 



232 



2123 y 

Politeness and refinement may or may not be asso- 
ciated : refinement is always kind, but politeness may 
be cruel. 

2124 
The croaking of men is not more tuneful than the 
croaking of frogs, however much the croakers may 
dissent from public opinion. 

2125 
Though an army spring at thy command, lead them 
not for spoils. 

2126 

Alas ! fear is the possessor of a thousand minds that 
rightfully belong to joy. 

2127 
Social equality to be lasting must have other than a 
metallic base. It must be as a soul speaking to a soul. 

2128 

They who most need moral guidance seldom ask for it. 

2129 
Temptation and folly — how close the intimacy! 

2130 
The boldness with which virtue mingles with vice 
makes virtue's destruction more certain, for where 
there is no suspicion there is little fear. 

2131 
Write thy thoughts upon a page and thy acts upon 
the opposite, to determine whether they be consistent 
or whether either is a credit to thee. 

2132 
If thou dost a good work for praise, thou wilt miss all 
benefit. 

2133 
Enchanting are the realms of Nature beyond the 
earth, else it were vain to love her beauties here. 



233 



2134 
Away with the thought that no mortal liveth chastely. 

2135 
Why indeed should the fiddle provoke the parson's 
wrath ? Each has a place and use, and one may be as 
guiltless as the other. 

2136 
A whip for nothing, but kindness for everything. 

2137 
At eventide ere thou slumber let peace enfold thee as 
gently as the dew falleth upon the face of the dry land. 

2138 

When a good thought approaches, leap for it and make 
it thine own. 

2139 
Only the flimsiest education is gained in schooldays. 
It is the after-study of the great problems of life that 
makes mortals much or little. 

2140 

Be not amazed that children are depraved until 
parents are weaned from lust. 

2141 
The king requireth food and drink wherewith to 
sustain him, as much as the peasant, because being of 
the same substance one would perish like the other if 
deprived. 

2142 
Surely a man must become humble when he looks 
into his soul, for he seeth there much that expresses 
vanity. 

2143 
Man may see himself in the forest. There are great 
trees that point direct to the sun, there are fluttering 
trees that seem to be agitated by every wind that 
blows, and there are strong trees that stand much 
buffeting ere they bend to passing currents. 



234 



2144 

A man may read a thousand books and act a fool. 

2145 
Those who ever rake dead leaves have not time to 
plow new soil. 

2146 

Why cease to learn and fall behind the age of thought 
that is pressing on the brain of man? Progress is 
written by the eternal hand once and forever. 

2147 
The workers and not the loiterers are making the 
world blossom. 

2148 
Life is in the throbbing present, therefore be a part of 
what is rather than remain a part of what was. 

2149 
Reading is entertainment, thinking is labor, and there 
are more who love entertainment than love labor, 
and more who think too little than think too much. 

2150 
Simplicity is the attendant of greatness and can not 
be long separated. 

2151 
It is the thinker who is wise, the originator and not 
the copyist who is swift to discover more. 

2152 
The mightiest forces when skilfully controlled and 
directed produce gentle effects : so the strongest mind 
perfectly controlled is the calm mind. 

2153 
If life were one long pleasure-day, there would be no 
lesson-day. 

2154 

Turn thy back on fashion whenever the dame would 
lead thee beyond convenience and fitness. She is thy 
servant and should not be permitted to dictate. 



235 



2155 

As prejudice is always ready to beg, borrow or steal> 
it should never be admitted to thy mind. 

2156 
A man may speak of much and know little. 

2157 
If a man desires to toe the mark, do not push him out 
of line by thy carelessness or ugliness. 

2158 
The light of wisdom burns brighter than the lamp of 
religion. 

2159 
Liberty clings to progression and presses onward. 
Despotism clings to retrogression and runs backward. 

2160 
Monopoly, like its prototype, tries to get four feet 
in the trough. 

2161 
Fill thy neighbor's ear with undeserved praise and he 
will glorify thee. Fill it with deserved censure and he 
will curse thee ; but hypocrisy is no less mean because 
thy neighbor encourages thee to dispense it. 

2162 

At some future day a bright light will shine over 
every pitfall wherein a mortal might stumble from 
morality to immorality. 

2163 
Homely oftener than extravagant ways tend to 
virtuous ways. 

2164 

Of all the feeble utterances of man a description of 
God is the feeblest. 

2165 
An honest man diligent in all his ways may fail if he 
taketh not leisure to observe the ways of the dis- 
honest man. 



236 



2166 

Into the mouth there goeth much that defiles the mind. 

2167 
Though time fly with the directness of an arrow and 
never stop, it will never reach the Infinite. 

2168 
The promise of heaven without the promise of occu- 
pation is too uninteresting to be alluring. 

2169 
Alas ! that there should be one soul that does not bud 
and blossom on earth. 

2170 
Alas ! the withered branches and the gnarled trunks 
in the garden of life ! 

2171 
What work hast thou done today on the eternal 
statue thou art chiseling of thyself? Unless thou art 
diligent there is danger of leaving a rough block when 
thou dost depart. 

2172 
When vanity reigns supreme over the heart, time 
hath a sure revenge. 

2173 
Trust not in chance. If you find a coin today you may 
not tomorrow. 

2174 
Naught standeth between thee and thy Maker ; and 
if a man step between, it is an impertinence meriting 
rebuke. 

2175 
The wind of adversity occasionally blows one into a 
port of safety. 

2176 
Though the prize of death may be worth the winning, 
a slower pace is advisable. 

2177 

Where love is not, heaven is unknown. 



237 



2178 
iy^HY shouldst thou declare thy conception of 
\§J God to me and refuse an ear shouldst I declare 
^*^^ mine to thee? Hast thou not charity in even 
so small a degree that thou may est not listen to that 
of which one can not know more than another? 

2179 
Religion should be the measure of God, but alas ! it is 
only the measure of man. 

2180 

Having a disposition to be acrimonious, cultivate 
urbanity. 

2181 
Debt increaseth the woes of mankind more than 
aught else that is self-inflicted. 

2182 

Go higher than thine own head for instruction, even 
to the angels who bend low to teach. 

2183 

Beauty is less offended with flattery than ugliness, 
not because beauty hath more discernment, nor ugli- 
ness less, but because beauty anticipates and is pre- 
pared. 

2184 
Theology in its emphasis of doctrine passes many a 
truth without recognition. 

2185 
Civility that costs an effort is worth more to the 
giver than the receiver. 

2186 
Listen to the pleadings of patience when thou art 
with little children, that thou supplant not respect 
with disrespect. 

2187 
If thou couldst be led by justice always, thou wouldst 
travel direct toward divinity. 



238 



2188 
To increase thy possessions a hundredfold without 
wrongdoing need not harm thee ; but to increase a 
farthing at the expense of honor must degrade and 
shame the indweUing spirit. 

2189 
Whichever way thou lookest for perfection thou 
findest imperfection, and this need not make thee 
captious, for it is as it must ever be until man over- 
takes eternity. 

2190 
In reasoning minds there is a plane that accords with 
justice ; but not twice in thrice is it allowed to prevail 
over prejudice. 

2191 

The sanctity of thy word should never be doubted by 
thyself. 

2192 

The pleasure of living is enhanced when thou learnest 
that thy mission is to make the world better. 

2193 
Fighting is derogatory to any cause, and it were not 
impossible to settle all disputes by arbitration were 
not fighting popular. 

2194 
Physical punishment can never exempt an offender 
from the moral punishment which the offense hath 
earned. 

2195 
The penalty of independent thinking is the loss of 
timid friends. 

2196 
Blest are they who live right in this hour instead of in 
resolution. 

2197 
Were half that is written, spoken, the world would be 
as wise, for there is half too much in print wherewith 
to cumber the mind. 



239 



2198 

HET there be no misunderstanding between thee 
and another, for where there is misunder- 
standing there is distrust ; and distrust breeds 
hatred, and hatred breeds evil, in a small or large 
degree as thy mind is moved by passion. 

2199 

The secret of success can be ascertained only when it 
is ascertained what success truly means. 

2200 

How dare I define God if thou hast eyes to look about 
thee! 

2201 

Thou must see God through thine own eyes, and not 
through mine, for this is the law and it is also thy 
privilege, howbeit another might endeavor to cast a 
shadow aslant thy vision. 

2202 
Labor degrades when the laborer hath neither voice 
nor mind in his vocation. 

2203 

Calmly think of death and prepare for it, as for any 
other long journey. 

2204 

Reason tells us that if we control the mind we control 
the body. 

2205 
Inspiration has its limits — the human brain. 

2206 

To the outward eye justice and mercy appear not to 
be meted from God to man but from man to man. 

2207 
It can not be written too often that lack of cleanliness 
is lack of godliness. Piety will never supplant sanita- 
tion, nor can prayer be relied upon to banish a plague. 



240 



2208 
If thou wilt examine the brightest spot in the human 
character thou wilt find it illumined by unselfishness. 

2209 
No man hath a right to make the world worse, and if 
he assume it he must also assume the penalty. 

2210 

The flame burns clear when trimmed by hope. 

2211 
A light heart maketh a cheerful voice, but a heart of 
lead keepeth to a monotone. 

2212 

Public sentiment is as variable as climate. 

2213 
When one is most useful may not be when one is best 
known nor when one is least known, but when one 
best knows others. 

2214 

Faultfinding is decried, but were it not for the fault- 
finders there would be little reform. 

2215 
When man works in unison with law, God works in 
unison with man. 

2216 
The voice is an index of the feelings when Nature 
has not been supplanted by art. 

2217 
Nothing ever has been or ever will be written of God 
by the human hand that is infallible. 

2218 
The righteous lean toward tolerance, the unrighteous 
toward intolerance. 

2219 
Age begins when hope declines. 



241 



2220 

Bestow not all thy criticism on others : spare a little 
for thyself as thou hast need. 

2221 

Thy loftiest thoughts can compass only the length 
and breadth of thine own mind, and beyond that 
thou canst not proceed. 

2222 

The gate of wisdom opens from the outside, hence it 
is that if a man would enter he must let himself in. 

2223 

The final ditch is the grave, and into it every rider 
falls. 

2224 

The mainspring of life is ambition. 

2225 

Busy hands and nimble feet make the morn and eve 
quick meet. 

2226 

Many a brilliant mind has been content to illumine its 
own life. 

2227 

The restraints of society tend to embarrass candor 
until deceitfulness triumphs. 

2228 

Reserve a few moments daily for interrogation of thy 
motives and demand an honest accounting. 

2229 

When the sun goes down, the city plans not for sleep, 
but for amusement ; but should the time come when 
man may play as well as work by day and sleep by 
night. Nature will be kinder than when she is defied. 

2230 
Save a penny today, that thou mayest spend a penny 
tomorrow. 



242 



2231 

The engine that speeds toward success is not novelty, 
but monotony. 

2232 

Labor to discover, rather than to recover. 

2233 

The speech of wisdom soundeth like foolishness to 
the unwise. 

2234 

Thy goodness is thy good friend. 

2235 
Hearest thou a man boastful, thou hearest one whom 
thou must hunt when needed. 

2236 
" Forever and forever '' is the writing over the door 
of the individual temple. 

2237 
The children of one age are very like the children of 
another age, but adults present marked changes 
when comparing one age with another. 

2238 

When curiosity is called idle, it is really most busy. 

2239 

The low, sweet harmonies that Nature sings to a 
listener can not be excelled by the tones of art. 

2240 

When thou prayest fervently thy spirit leaps from its 
fetters of flesh and oft brings to thee thy heart's 
desire. 

2241 
Alas ! that fear should dominate a religious mind or 
turn it from quietude to disquietude. 

2242 
An assassin stands behind every evil act, to strike the 
high low and the low lower. 



243 



2243 

^Y^HERE points the hand on the face of earth no 
ril man can see. It may be but a moment past the 
^*^^ hour of birth, or it may be halfway to the next 
striking. So Uttle knoweth man concerning this 
world that he must rest his mind on conjecture. 

2244 

To come into close touch with the human family 
means to suffer. 

2245 
The flight of years, however long, reaches its desti- 
nation sooner than we expect. 

2246 

Trim your sails to catch the breeze ; 't is better thus 
than God to tease. 

2247 
An untruth may have a semblance of truth if agree- 
ably presented, and too few there be who can discern 
the difference between what is true and what is false 
when the question is argued with skill. 

2248 

When reason works in the garden of the mind it 
uproots superstition. 

2249 

A fair mind perceiveth that only by knowledge is 
man lifted toward civilization. 

2250 

A poet is the amanuensis of a whimsical muse. 

2251 

A couch of down will not ease the mind, for mental 
rest cometh from invisible things. 

2252 
A man may not blot himself out of existence by 
thought, word or deed ; but by these three may he 
be miserable or blissful. 



244 



2253 
Long service in good works makes the worker worthy 
of gratitude ; even if his motives have not been 
entirely free from self-interest, there should be 
cheerful thanks for the good done. 

2254 

A cause may be meritorious, but to win applause it 
must also be popular. 

2255 

Revelation has been slow because man has been 
cruel ; but as he becomes more civilized he will not 
slay his neighbor, as in times past, for advancing 
new theories concerning man's destiny contrary to 
old beliefs. 

2256 
It is good to pray hopefully, but not to tease. 

2257 
The lesson may be learned from the criminal without 
the criminal's experience. 

2258 
Everything is holy that is good, and that which is 
bad can not be made holy, but must be abandoned. 

2259 
To gain unpleasant notoriety is easier than to lose it. 

2260 
That which meets with the approval of the just is 
apt to be repudiated by the selfish. 

2261 

Whether a dog have a keen eye and a keen nose, or a 
dull eye and a dull nose, matters not if he have not 
energy to run after game. 

2262 

If a man tell thee of God he can only tell thee of the 
God within himself. It is not given to man to explain 
beyond his own capacity of thought. 



245 



2263 

elVE a flower to some one every day : a sweet 
rose of kindness, a white lily of truth, a spray 
of laughter, a bluebell of hope or a soft-hearted 
pansy of sympathy. All these and many more in 
season will make fragrant the day for giver and 
receiver. 

2264 
Sweet is the rest that cometh to a settled mind, and 
for the sake of rest man is too prone to believe with- 
out proof. 

2265 
A religious flight should be upward and onward 
toward light and understanding, and not downward 
and backward through the darkness and misunder- 
standing of an earlier age. 

2266 
Men fight over words and thus separate themselves 
from one another in religious hatred. 

2267 

As difficult as it is to understand our relation to the 
present, our relation to the past is not plainer. 

2268 

The hope of all men is freedom for themselves, but 
alas ! not always for others. 

2269 

Romance is not confined to youth, nor is it less 
interesting to the aged, be they so inclined. 

2270 
Hold thy soul in peace and let no mortal persuade 
thee that the past holds more of truth than the future 
— the disk of revelation has just begun to turn. 

2271 
When Nature smiles return her greeting, and when 
she frowns laugh at her and change her mood toward 
thee. 



246 



2272 
The language of a cat is incomprehensible to a dog, 
and the barking of a dog puzzles a cat ; but do they 
not understand each other as well as the human cats 
and dogs that inhabit the kingdoms of earth ? 

2273 
If thou art on a wide bridge, thou mayest run with 
safety; but if walking a plank, look to thy steps. 

2274 
Follow a coxcomb closely and he appears a clown. 

2275 
When catching small fry be watchful or the first big 
fish that nibbles may run away with the hook. 

2276 
In a spirit of kindness and fairness tell of thy views of 
another life ; but copy not after the many and pros- 
elyte, because if thou hast a growing mind thou wilt 
know more tomorrow than thou knowest today. 

2277 
Who shall declare whether God be masculine or 
feminine? Methinks both the father and the mother 
of the universe should be encompassed in that holy 
word. 

2278 
Walk not between husband and wife. The place for 
thee is behind the twain or, better still, before them, 
that thou mayest not observe their ways. 

2279 
No mortal can behold the beauty of life whose eye 
can not penetrate beyond self. 

2280 
Let the burden of thy song be health and sing it until 
thou findest it. 

2281 

The tomorrow of life is the forecast of today. 



247 



2282 

It is more enlivening to lead a regiment than to 
follow one, and there is also more responsibility. 

2283 

Neither poverty nor riches nor yet a modest income 
will protect thee from calumny. No one is safe from 
human attacks. 

2284 
Be discreet both with thine own and with another's 
affairs, lest thou be outwitted by a fool and be made 
to bite the dust. 

2285 

In the prompt payment of obligations, who can dis- 
tinguish between pride and honesty? 

2286 

Findest thou a man too careful of himself and he will 
be too careless of others. 

2287 

The saddest tragedies of life are not the homicides, 
but the suicides: the anguish of the self-slain is 
unthinkable. 

2288 

Men doubt not the love of God so much as the love 
of man. 

2289 

One is not ashamed of one's age, but of spiteful 
remarks concerning one's age — there is no defense 
and hence feminine secrecy. 

2290 

The hiding-place of jealousy is a secret until it dis- 
closes itself, as no one would suspect another of 
harboring the hateful creature. 

2291 
Regardless of worldly opinion, a man respects him- 
self most when his life is noblest, and least when it is 
basest. 



248 



2292 

^v^HERE are the ancients of learning? Are they 
r 1^ in a burning pit or a singing paradise, or are 
^^^ they busy with the intellectual pursuits in one 
of the many worlds before us ? It is a narrow and cruel 
mind that would deprive the departed of congenial 
occupation. 

2293 

Men dread less the wrath of God than the wrath of 
men. 

2294 

The pitcher may be broken at the first drawing or at 
the last or not at all. Care alone saves it. 

2295 

When looking for dishonesty search first thine own 
house, and if thou findest it not, thou mayest search 
thy neighbor's. 

2296 

Part husks will be thy share if art and poetry are 
excluded from thy daily fare. 

2297 
Beware of him who urgeth thee to act contrary to 
thine own reason. A wise counselor will point the 
way and let thee choose. 

2298 

As mental depression is conducive to misery, do not 
invite it by disobedience of health laws. 

2299 

Sleep is the savior of man and beast. 

2300 

Oh, that the brow of religions might be touched by 
the hand of knowledge and be enlightened ! 

2301 
Imperfection must be imperfection through all time, 
because imperfection can not attain perfection until 
God is transcended. 



249 



2302 

If prejudice is crowded out of the way, a swift run 
may be made toward justice. 

2303 
To say of a man that he is thoroughly educated 
impHes that he knows all there is to know, whereas 
every man is an ignoramus compared with what he 
does not know. 

2304 
Be as sly about thy almsgiving as thou wouldst be 
about thine own poverty. 

2305 

Construction is not better than destruction if that 
which thou buildest is not truth. 

2306 
Wait till the ass is bridled before mounting and thou 
art surer of a beast for thy journey. 

2307 

Farewell, yesterday ! Today is here. 

2308 

They who hate most love least. 

2309 

How canst thou seek a cozy corner and rest therein 
if thy neighbor has been crowded out of it? 

2310 
I learned my lesson today, not from books but from 
an aspiration. In the silence I communed with One 
on high who said, ** Despair not, but press onward 
toward the high mark of truth forever and forever ! " 




250 



BOOK EIGHT 




2311 
HE secret of happiness lies as deep 
as life. Yea, before thou art, the 
chord is struck : if it be minor, it 
taketh long before the modulations 
bring it to a major ; and if it be 
major, it resolves itself gradually 
into minor key. Who knoweth 
whether the ending of the earthly 
prelude will be a wail of sor- 



row or a joyful sound? 

2312 
When truth supersedes creed, all men will be drawn 
to it. 

2313 
Be patient with age, that time may not retaliate. 

2314 

Love is profligate of time and gambles with hearts. 

2315 

A preacher of prudence is not infallibly prudent. 

2316 
Tears blister the memory of many pages of life which 
would have been free from blemish had youth been 
endowed with experience. 

2317 
Innocence increases the responsibility of the beholder 
inasmuch as it becomes his to protect. 

2318 
Though sorrow may wear the look of joy, joy never 
wears the look of sorrow. 

2319 

Much complaining increases the complaint. 

2320 

Thou art the keeper of thine own life, and to no one 
surrender this care. 



253 



2321 
^^^^HE universe is not so small as the ancients 
^ J thought, and with the broadening of the mind 
^^^ has broadened religion until no one of reverent 
mind dare locate God or explain His intent toward 
the different races of man that inhabit this sphere. 

2322 
Vigorous thoughts come with vigorous desires. 

2323 
A closed mouth and an open ear are the best servitors 
of ignorance. 

2324 

If thou runnest against a wall suddenly, be not 
surprised if thou hast been running toward it swiftly. 

2325 
An occasional hurricane is preferable to an endless 
calm, when the mind moves not at all. 

2326 

Love is a keeper of secrets. 

2327 
Though humble thy calling, exalted may be thy call. 

2328 

Comments on indolence are unnecessary: indolence 
speaks for itself in no uncertain language. 

2329 

By all means obtain a knowledge of your subject 
before you teach — this is not always done — observe 
them who tell of God of whom no man knoweth. 

2330 

Man should stand before man as a king by divine 
authority. 

2331 
Exalted thought doeth good, though unexpressed by 
word of mouth. 



254 



2332 

There is as much probability of catching a wild ass 
with a lame foot as there is of overtaking public 
opinion with a lame excuse. 

2333 

A lame dog leading a blind man — Sect leading Sect. 

2334 

Lamentation is not the philosopher's song. 

2335 
Whenever a truth is born, an error dies. 

2336 

Wit floats on the surface of speech like froth on a 
sillibub, without which it lacks lightness. 

2337 
A thousand generations are but one heart-throb of 
eternity. 

2338 

Not as thou wouldst that things were, but as they are, 
must thou find thy way through the world, with or 
without mishap as thou art fortunate. 

2339 
Whatsoever makes thee truly wise makes thee better. 

2340 
A deserted house hath not more echoes than a deserted 
mind. 

2341 
When I pass over, fill my hands, O angels of kindness, 
with fresh flowers, that I may inhale their fragrance 
and feel that I am in a world where our mother 
Nature still reigns. 

2342 
Thou mayest not turn to a pillar of salt when thou 
lookest backward, but thy mind will crystallize 
sooner when turned to the past. 



255 




2343 
ifHALL a man live always if he violate not a law 
of health ? Yea and Nay have been the answers 
to the question ; but a change of environment 
seemeth desirable, for when man is wise enough to 
know all laws of this world he would tire of his limita- 
tions and desire to know the laws of another and still 
another, and methinks this is his destiny and will be 
his choice. 

2344 

Air, sunlight and a square to till are man's birthright, 
but alas ! the Esaus and Jacobs are everywhere. 

2345 
See to it that thy forbearance becomes not cowardice. 

2346 

Better make a confidant of thy horse than of thy 
groom — the beast only is dumb. 

2347 
If thy friends agree not with thy mood, probably 
thou art not in the right one. 

2348 
He who believes in a devil believes in a feeble God. 

2349 
It is more beneficial to think well than to talk well, 
albeit the superficial may hold a contrary opinion. 

2350 
He who hath not mercy lacketh many other virtues. 

2351 

Look we there, we see distress ; look we here, see we 
suffering. Shall all say whatever is, is right? or shall 
all exclaim whatever is, needs righting ? 

2352 
Be a subject old and threadbare, new clothed it 
becomes interesting. 



256 



2353 
^^^HE grass-blade grows, it knows not how. The 
C^) child grows, it knows not how. The same in- 
^^^ visible force propels both upward, but why 
should a man who knows not how he grows dogmatize 
about the propelling cause and declare he is uttering 
truth? 

2354 
Form the habit of cheerful thinking when young, 
that age cheat thee not of pleasant days. 

2355 
When antiquated theology demands modern opinion, 
perfect candor compels one to be disrespectful. 

2356 
The business of life should be right living. 

2357 
New thought is a harbinger of progress. 

2358 

Love laughs at everything but itself, which it treats 
seriously. 

2359 
Ancient thought belonged to ancient peoples, but 
modern thought belongs to modern peoples and must 
be honestly regarded. 

2360 
Labor constantly to improve thyself, that the world 
be speedily redeemed. 

2361 
The burden-bearer might lighten his burden if he 
would regard the past less and the future not at all. 

2362 
Moderate success at the outset may lead to more 
lasting success, because the seeds of economy are 
given time to take deeper root. 

2363 
Clear is the vision that can see heaven through hell. 



257 



2364 

y^^HE most skilled mathematician fails to number 
^ J the worlds of the heavens ; yet the most super- 
^^^ ficial of theologians are quick to enumerate 
the two abodes of souls after death. Methinks the 
abodes of souls are as many and varied as the stars 
above, and that the Mind over all is not so poor as 
the two -world conception would indicate. 

2365 

Some will speak and will not act ; others will act but 
will not speak ; but he who neither acts nor speaks in 
times of emergencies is the one to watch. 

2366 

The beliefs of the future must be supported by knowl- 
edge : faith must be supplanted by fact. 

2367 
Be modest when discoursing on thine own achieve- 
ments, lest thou be called a boaster and an exaggerator, 
which in public estimation is scarcely one whit 
removed from a simpleton. 

2368 
That which thou canst take with thee from this 
world is thine own : all else thou hast borrowed and 
must return. 

2369 

Whether rich or poor, the bodily demands of daily 
life put men and women on an equality ; but by the 
mind may one soar above another. 

2370 
The right to think is thy birthright: sell it not to 
potentate or prelate for his pottage. 

2371 
More talk the brotherhood of man than feel it. It 
pains the snob to say *' Our Brother " when he says 
** Our Father," but the children of one father must be 
brothers. 



258 



2372 

HAR beyond the mortal lens are spread the cities 
of the departed, beautiful of architecture and 
restful of design — the best of earth spiritualized. 
This picture now hangs on the wall of the imagi- 
nation, and the old one of a burning hell and brazen 
heaven has been removed by the enlightened. 

2373 
He who truly loves the Father can have no belief in 
Christian or Pagan devil. 

2374 
Invitation insures a welcome. A beggar thrust into a 
banquet finds no place at the board. 

2375 
The most cutting wind that blows — the blasts of 
scorn. 

2376 
If thy possessions consist only of that which money 
can buy, thou art indeed so poor thou needest sym- 
pathy ; but if thy possessions are above price, thou art 
rich, though thy body be clothed with leaves and 
thine abode but a shelter from inclemency. 

2377 
One thinketh it is leagues further to duty than to 
pleasure ; another that pleasure and duty are close 
together; another that pleasure can not be reached 
without crossing the field of duty. The truth is plain : 
Pleasure and duty are one and the same when 
rightly considered. 

2378 
Mercy trembles at the approach of justice. 

2379 

The floor of the ocean is littered with the strange 
work of Dame Nature. 

2380 

As fleeting as dreams are opportunities, and they 
change with a breath. 



259 



2381 

A prince without and a pauper within — a man with 
fine raiment and a naked mind. 

2382 

Bear with the aged ; if their mental house is out of 
repair, they suffer discomfort. 

2383 

If one is determined to cut off one's nose to spite one's 
face, there is daily opportunity. 

2384 

If thou art free to control me, thy freedom is my 
bondage. 

2385 

Greater or less capacity matters little if thou hast not 
a purpose and pursue it. 

2386 

Who can portray the hideousness of a theology that 
consigns to everlasting torment the souls of enlight- 
ened men and women ! 

2387 
Thou canst not bore a deep well with a gimlet, neither 
canst thou bore for deep truths unless mentally 
equipped. 

2388 
The vices of the many are modified by the virtues of 
the few. 

2389 

In this paradox appears a truth — the height of folly 
is the depth of shame. 

2390 
Opulence and squalor meet on an equality before the 
gate of death ; both enter the holy city without purse 
or scrip. 

2391 
Throw away criticism when viewing poverty and 
weakness ; they have privileges not accorded to riches 
and strength. 



260 



2392 

The whale of intemperance has swallowed many a 
Jonah and spewed him on to the dry land of want. 

2393 
That which is progressive is not vicious. 

2394 

Sweeten life with more charitable thought ; there be 
many who act effusively, but who think meanly. 

2395 

Ninety-nine churchmen and one skeptic make the 
world move faster than one hundred churchmen. 

2396 

That accurate results depend on accurate methods is 
only half-believed because only half-tried. 

2397 
Open thy heart for self-examination when thy neighbor 
is not looking, lest he observe thy secrets and proclaim 
them. 

2398 

Swift in the race is desire. 

2399 
Finally let it be said : He died and the world owed him 
more than he owed the world. 

2400 

Climb the knowledge-tree as high as you can and then 
pull up your neighbor: it is easier than to stand 
beneath him and boost. 

2401 
Nimble is the foot that can distance usury. 

2402 

Folly is not conservative, but goeth about with a 
loud noise or with stealth, as suits its whim. , 

y 2403 

Only wisdom will obliterate fear. 



261 



2404 

Let parents be parents and children be children, that 
respect keep its rightful place even unto the end. 

2405 
If the window of thy soul be small, increase not the 
darkness within by drawing a sectarian curtain across 
it. 

2406 

No man hath sole possession of hope. It goeth into 
every habitation, and hath no more affinity for prince 
than for pauper, and dwelleth not longer with the one 
than with the other. 

2407 
Comfort is last where ostentation is first. 

2408 
Note what a man says of his neighbor and thou canst 
opine what he will say of thee. 

2409 

Let the future hold what it may, I will say to myself : 
Abide in peace, for thou art traveling toward light. 

2410 

To seek repose before thy task is done is the sluggard's 
method. To seek it after is to have earned it. 

2411 

When there are robbers on both sides of the political 
highway, a man hath scarce a better chance of keep- 
ing his goods by taking to middle ground. Safety 
would seem to lie in another direction. 

2412 
Pipe a lay of gladness when thou hast overcome the 
least fault. The tune will so delight thou wilt wish to 
overcome another. 

2413 

Be merciful, even for thine own sake, for it keeps thee 
out of hell. 



262 



2414 

Probe as deep as you may, the heart of the universe 
can not be reached, nor its pulse counted. 

2415 
There is law and order from Alpha to Omega. Miracle 
is but bygone fancy. 

2416 
Sanitation can not be accomplished with prayer, nor 
epidemics be checked with beads. 

2417 
Strive rather to sharpen thy conscience with close 
questioning than dull it with sophistry. 

2418 
Principle is a stern master whom thou must serve 
faithfully if thou wouldst win the applause of con- 
science. 

2419 

If thou callest a man a dog when he hath not barked, 
thou must look well to thy heels. 

2420 

The bane of life is want, and yet want is the root of 
plenty. 

2421 

Speak to the stars with poetic metaphor, but speak 
to the earth with plain words ; then thou mayest 
mingle with the lofty and the lowly and be under- 
stood. 

2422 

However old a religion, something in it harmonizes 
with the new. 

2423 
As winebibbing more or less clouds the intellect, it 
should be avoided by the strong, that the weak may 
not fall. 

2424 

If thou hast not ability, thou mayest have kindness. 
If thou hast neither, woe is thine. 



263 



2425 

Nature is not more penurious of gold than of common- 
sense. More of each is needed to make the human 
family content. 

2426 

Hopeless must be he who hopes not in immortality. 

2427 

Nature is generous or parsimonious much as man may 
will. 

2428 

Caution profits more than lamentation. 

2429 

As the needle is true to the North, so is the soul to its 
aspirations. 

2430 

The poison ejected from one evil mind destroyeth 
many. 

2431 

The ** missing link " if not seen in form is seen in 
type, here, there and everywhere. 

2432 

The atom seemeth more law-abiding than the man. 

2433 
Feed the starving man without question. If thou hast 
curiosity to know his religion, wait his fill or he will 
hate thee. 

2434 

To cripple reason and lean on tradition is like crip- 
pling one foot and leaning on a crutch. 

2435 

Man is speeding along on the everlasting journey 
over the hills and vales of eternity today. 

2436 

A little tree may bear large apples, and only a fool 
would decline them for that reason. 



264 



2437 
Reading, thinking and toiling — these three make 
wise ; but the doing of one without the other two 
falleth short of wisdom. 

2438 
A fiery temper is self -consuming. 

2439 
Now is the moment of rejoicing, and if we rejoice now 
we shall rejoice alway, for the present is always ours. 

2440 

It is not a test of courage to walk past a caged lion. 

2441 
Thou mayest intend to do great good, but thy neigh- 
bor who doeth a little receive th the blessing. Action 
outweighs intention. 

2442 

The bitterness of life is sweetened by death. 

2443 
Socrates drank his hemlock with a smile born of his 
immortal intellect. 

2444 
The tenderest sympathy may not be expressed by 
word nor by deed, but the aching of one heart for 
another is a sign that the soul goeth out in response 
to a need. 

2445 

Beautiful was the life of Jesus, and beautiful should 
be thy life, not because of His, but because it is a 
privilege bestowed and a duty imposed on the sons 
and daughters of earth from time immemorial. 

2446 

The storehouse of memory contains so much trash 
that one is ashamed to expose it to a strange eye. 

2447 
A premature opinion may be likened unto green fruit. 



265 



2448 

If thou fallest let not the dust of defeat settle on thee. 
Get up, shake it off, and onward run till some prize 
is thine. 

2449 
Education without honesty and sobriety is like a 
fine chariot with vicious steeds : the rider is hurled to 
the ground before the race is finished. 

2450 

If thou runnest with a fool and he trip thee, there is 
none to pity. 

2451 

Wisdom is a king ; love, a subject. 

2452 

Little know the young of the thoughts of the old. 

2453 
Hunger can not reason. 

2454 

A dull mind deprives its possessor of the richest part 
of life. 

2455 
Small results may come from great effort, but smaller 
will come from no effort. 

2456 
If thou desires t to see a divine man thou hast but to 
look at the first man thou meetest, for the immortal 
spirit maketh all divine that walk in man's image. 

2457 
Confine not thy mind too much to trivial matters, lest 
it become enfeebled and unable to grasp matters of 
weight. 

2458 
The season of wishing is youth, and the season of 
wishing is age ; therefore, wishing is always in season, 
and good wishes are never without good results to the 
wisher. 



266 



2459 
If thou makest a place for thyself in the world, thou 
wilt fit it ; but if another make it for thee, thou may est 
not. 

2460 

How much of sorrow and injustice would be saved in 
this world if each obeyed the golden rule of Confucius ! 

2461 
Saints walk the earth in all garbs and are recognized 
by those whom they serve. 

2462 

Under untried conditions an untried leader is not less 
to be trusted than a tried one. 

2463 
Words may fall from the tongue when ideas will not. 

2464 

Love is strong to endure, but wisdom is strong to 
direct. 

2465 
Thou mayest fire at the moon without hitting it, but 
the higher thy aim the safer are men. 

2466 
When eye and ear serve, the young are truthfully 
inclined. 'T is age that loveth to deceive. 

2467 
Wisdom and austerity may be strangers. 

2468 
When society is whirling like a dervish, it can not 
think those things that make for good ; and when it 
pauses for breath, it is too dizzy. 

2469 
If thou hast the intention and the ability, and hast 
not the will to act aright, thou art as though void and 
as nothing in the world at large. 



267 



2470 
Y^K^ Confucius are we indebted for the Golden Rule, 
^ J and to the Nazarene are we later indebted for 
^^■^ presenting anew this precept to His followers, 
but they who practise it are indeed few compared 
with the number who have heard it. 

2471 
If linked to poverty, thou mayest stand erect ; but if 
joined to vice also, thou mayest cower in the presence 
of thine own wronged self. 

2472 
Desire is the prelude of success. 

2473 

Before the setting of another sun, do thou something 
of which thou canst be proud. 

2474 
Wisdom is grave or gay and ever companionable. 

2475 
Water will cleanse from external dirt, but immersion 
will not cleanse a filthy soul. 

2476 
Few saints are canonized where education is com- 
pulsory. 

2477 
In the giving and receiving of friendship thou must 
use more discretion than in the exchange of all other 
gifts. 

2478 
Sailing is easier than rowing, but strong muscles 
demand strong work, and that which is easiest may 
not make thee strong. 

2479 
If thou wantest a faithful friend thou must in truth 
be one. 

2480 

Love and wisdom may dwell far apart. 



268 



2481 
They who persecute in religion's name lack all 
charity, and they who have not charity have little 
of good. 

2482 
Voting is a holy privilege, and not, as many assume, 
a commercial opportunity. 

2483 

A jingle of words and an easy manner — thus equipped 
the pretender becomes a sage. 

2484 

Whatsoever befalls thee, curse not. 

2485 

Be thou honest, thou art free ; be thou dishonest, 
thou art in perpetual servitude to the tyrant fear. 

2486 
National honor let every man seek, knowing that the 
unit maketh the whole ; hence on each individual 
rests responsibility. 

2487 
Politeness may hinder the human cats and dogs of 
society from barking and scratching, but it does not 
stay the inclination. 

2488 
Speak hopefully, not discouragingly : one heavy word 
may turn the balance and send a life downward. 

2489 

Let thy life be as a white light set on a high place. 

2490 
If thou canst not add to thy neighbor's comfort, thou 
needest not add to his discomfort. 

2491 
Let no man persuade thee that thou art not divine ; 
thus believing, cultivate only those qualities that 
tend to spiritualize. 



269 



2492 
iw^HAT shouldst thou do when a man smites thee 
r ly on thy cheek? If thou turnest the other thou 
^^^ increasest his anger, and his opportunity to 
do evil. It seemeth wiser to cry, ** Hold ! " than to say, 
*' Lay on !" as if thou wert a thing of dust that needed 
beating. 

2493 

The land of one's birth is not dearer than the land of 
one's adoption ; but 't is only by return after long 
absence that this lesson is learned. 

2494 
Below the surface of things must the scientist look 
for the cause, though the effect be flauntingly dis- 
played for common eyes. 

2495 

Whatsoever savors of personal gain in religion or 
politics savors of plunder. 

2496 

A pig can not be trusted in a garden. 

2497 
" The night cometh, when no man can work," was 
writ before the light of modern invention which 
maketh ancient speech less true for literal use. 

2498 
The shadow of death is but the twilight of earth's 
day, and below the horizon is the light of another. 

2499 
Silence is an educator from whom the many decline 
instruction. 

2500 
Point me a faultfinder and I will point thee imper- 
fection. 

2501 
Quarrels lead thee to hatred, and hatred leads thee 
never to happiness. 



270 



2502 

It is good to earn a place of trust for thyself, but 
dangerous to buy it. 

2503 

Determination and application make the improbable 
possible and place within reach the key of fame. 

2504 

Should thy neighbor despise thee when thy scrip is 
small, it is because he can not discriminate between 
what thou art and what thou hast. 

2505 

Vulgarity and eccentricity run to extremes, but 
refinement keeps to middle ground. 

2506 
Let the world know that you stand for a principle, 
and though it snub you it will respect you. 

2507 
A good or a bad reputation is made to stick. 

2508 

Fill not the air with lamentation, but with song, and 
thou wilt have a more cheerful following. 

2509 
There are worldly dunces and there are religious 
dunces, and there is little to be said in favor of the 
one over the other. 

2510 
'T is my belief that too much time and wine is wasted 
trying to patch First-Century bottles to hold the 
Twentieth-Century vintage. 

2511 
Thy voice is thy speaking soul. 

2512 
More are confused by theology than enlightened by it, 
because its utterances are fable, myth and personal 
opinion, and not till it learns more can it speak more 
wisely. 



271 



2513 
^-#^^EPOSE will do more for the weary mind than a 
§^r narcotic, but it is more difficult to obtain, as the 
"^"""^ patient must compound his own dose ; but when 
the formula is learned, the wealth of kings could not 
purchase it. 

2514 

Whatsoever savors of selfishness savors of unbecoming- 
ness. 

2515 

God is so lowly that He abideth in the most lowly 
places. 

2516 
A school for scandal is a school for the foolish: no 
clever mind could long endure the folly. 

2517 
The thief is chased and the beggar despised by honest 
toil. 

2518 
Throw mud if you will, but do not expect to keep 
clean hands. 

2519 

Despair not ; the truth will befriend thee if thou art 
true to truth. 

2520 
The faintest pretext for wrongdoing is the very thing 
for which evil minds are searching; even the vilest 
like an excuse to offer themselves. 




272 



BOOK NINE 



'^■^/•., 




2521 

LARGE part of life is given to 
costuming that were better given 
to things less vexatious than the 
bedecking of the perishable part ; 
and though the tasteful cover- 
ing of the form is desirable, a 
decorated body without a noble 

^ mind is so incongruous as to cause 

offense. Art should guide and fashion obey, then will 
woman become more moral and men will not cease to 
admire. 

2522 

Point me a man of conspicuous meekness and I will 
point thee one of weakness. 

2523 

Blow your horn if you must, but blow it at home and 
spare your neighbor's ear. 

2524 

Naturally man turns to God for instruction, and God 
turns man to himself. 

2525 
Speak homely truths in homely ways, that the listener 
lose not the thought in the music of the words. 

2526 . 
The tiniest pebble hath its work and doeth it. 

2527 
Let us hear less of regret and more of intent. 

2528 
Thou hast not time enough at thy disposal to live in 
the past and in the future without slighting the present. 

2529 
Fear nothing more than superstition. 'T is better thou 
be infidel to dogma than to commonsense : dogmas 
are man-given, but reason is God-given. 



275 



2530 

DO man has ever been privileged to write the 
words of God, though many inspired writers, 
both ancient and modern, have expressed 
truth ; and as inspiration is not dead but Hving, the 
words of the present generation are as precious as 
those of a bygone age. 

2531 
Urge not a man to think as thou thinkest nor to do 
as thou dost. 

2532 
A mind burnished by much thinking is brighter than 
a mind burnished by much reading. 

2533 
Why beat around the bush for game in sight? 

2534 
If thy inferior be in error, correct him gently. 

2535 
If thou art privileged to live thou art privileged to 
think. 

2536 
The little men know of a personal God and a personal 
devil, less than a word will express. 

2537 
The hope of a nation is the virtue of its youth. 

2538 
A weary head maketh a careless hand, and a careless 
hand maketh a weary head. 

2539 

The favor of a ruler may not be gained, but who can 
deny thee access to heaven? 

2540 
A man can not harness himself with a beast with- 
out degradation, neither can he tie himself to lust 
and escape harm. 



276 



2541 

XF the philosopher's stone were ours, by the 
making of much gold we would so cheapen the 
metal that the zest for digging it would be gone ; 
and it is a mooted question whether the getting of it is 
not what the world needs to make it labor and so 
civilize it. 

2542 
What is worth listening to is worth remembering, 
but alas ! that idle gossip should endure longer than 
honorable mention. 

2543 
If thou art clever thou wilt keep in mind the past 
whilst peering into the future. 

2544 

A Socrates and a Jesus are born every day, differing 
only in degree of unfoldment. 

2545 
The majesty of being is belittled by a thought that 
puts God in a distant city called Heaven. God is 
everywhere, never here and never there one moment 
more than another. 

2546 
Bray of thy illustrious ancestors if thou must, but 
forget not that the world will compare thee with them. 

2547 
Why look for imperfection in one another? Is it so 
rare a thing that it is worth thy time to seek it? 

2548 
The ratio between what men know not and what they 
know is too long to be expressed by figures. 

2549 
The trend of modern thought is toward a scientific 
religion ; the scientist, not the priest, will write the 
Twentieth-Century theology, and with the advent of 
knowledge the warfare will cease. 



277 



2550 

OETECTION may or may not follow thy pecula- 
tions whilst in the flesh, but when thou carry est 
thy burning secret where thou canst no longer 
conceal it, surely thou art a sneak and remorse will 
seize thee. 

2551 
Given a fair start, industrious mediocrity will out- 
strip indolent talent. 

2552 
Hold not virtue cheap. Thy morals will chase thee the 
wide world over. If thou desirest to teach, enfeeble 
not thyself with unbecoming conduct, that thy words 
must be considered apart from thy life. 

2553 

Half the people are bondmen to tradition, and desire 
to be. 

2554 

Fidelity is rare amongst the selfish. 

2555 
O slavery, thou didst cause the most precious blood 
of the North and of the South to be spilled to destroy 
thee. 

2556 

Make thyself a name, and whether it be good or bad 
the world will call thee by it. 

2557 
O God of the Universe, make me to think ! 

2558 
He is brave who carrieth his burden silently, but he is 
braver who carrieth it triumphantly and maketh a 
pleasure of necessity. 

2559 
If thou makest the little ones of earth smile, thou wilt 
make the larger ones also ; but thou mayest make the 
larger ones to laugh aloud, and yet not reach the 
little ones. 



278 



2560 
fc Y a cool stream in the heart of the silent moun- 
tains would desire lead me that I might hold 
converse with the spirit of Nature, which 
would impart to me much that is refused me when 
moving with the throng of a metropolis. 



© 



2561 

Do thy life-work so well that it is an honor to know 
thee. 

2562 

An indication that thou needest help : when thy face 
turneth backward and thy mind is pinned to the past. 

2563 
A monstrous thought — the Universe. 

2564 

God is not small enough to put in a creed, and the 
attempt will always be a failure, 

2565 

Nothing scares a bigot more than a new truth. 

2566 

There is a difference between a wise man and a 
lettered man. 

2567 
One man may say of another, ** He is going to hell," 
but he that speaketh sayeth never thus of himself. 

2568 

Leap over the rough places in memory and loiter 
only in pleasant ways. 

2569 
A whirlpool in a narrow stream is not more dangerous 
to the boatman than innocent ignorance caught in 
the whirl of a city. 

2570 
There is more mental liberty out of the church than 
in it, though the reverse should be possible, and it 
will be when more truth prevails therein. 



279 



2571 

Pride makes the difference between the somebody 
and the nobody. 

2572 
Why shouldst thou be disturbed by noisy tongues if 
thou hast done right? 

2573 

A mouse may gnaw a hole through which a rat may 
crawl. 

2574 
Whether it be better for thee to know the world 
better than the world knows thee, or for the world to 
know thee better than thou knowest the world, who 
can answer? 

2575 

He who contemplates matrimony should contemplate 
posterity. 

2576 
It may not always be wisest to seek middle ground 
when important questions threaten. The center of an 
island is not invariably the highest and safest point. 

2577 
Cast far from thee the thought that another can fill 
thy place in life — that is impossible. 

2578 
He who from vain notions seeks publicity merits 
obscurity. 

2579 

There is more of God in a flower than in a creed ; 
more of beauty in a waving field than in a narrow 
belief ; more of God in a thought of heaven than in a 
thought of hell. 

2580 
The size of the eye does not indicate the scope of the 
vision, nor the size of the head the scope of the mind. 

2581 
A humorist may shorten a long visage by lengthening 
his own. 



280 



2582 

A holy text may be found and a sermon be written 
from the records of each day, and it will come to 
this : the fresher the text, the better the sermon. 

2583 
The way to heaven is as broad as the way to purgatory. 

2584 

Follow your inclinations when they lead upward, but 
when they lead downward make them follow you. 

2585 
Attend to thine own business, that another may not. 

2586 
A sign that your society is not needed — when you 
cease to do good. 

2587 
If there be aught within thy mind that is impure, 
cleanse thy mind of it ere thou be stricken low in the 
scale of thought and be unable to rise. 

2588 

Didst ever hear a hen complain of her duties or a dog 
of his responsibilities? They attend so faithfully to 
their work that the many forget to admire. 

2589 
Gradually men will come to understand that God and 
Nature have made no mistakes, and that man has 
made them all. 

2590 
Outside the circle of mortal vision opens the spiritual 
world peopled with men and women gone before ; and 
there must the intellectual and the worthy be attracted 
to each other, regardless of former conditions or 
religions. 

2591 
Heavy bodies fall with a great noise and stay where 
they fall : so it is with material things ; but the fall of a 
mighty spirit is never heard, and rise again it must. 



281 



2592 

eO into a monastery when thou desirest to put 
God from thee, but stay in the world if thou 
desirest to be nearest Him ; for the more of 
His children thou dost meet and the more of His 
handiwork thou dost observe, the more hast thou of 
Him each day. He dwelleth not so much behind 
cloistered walls as in the light, not so much in exile 
as in company. 

2593 
The secret thou art so carefully guarding is as plain 
to the spirit world as it is to thee. 

2594 
If thou inclinest to scandal, scandal will incline to 
thee, and at last health of mind will vanish. 

2595 
A long memory is a stern censor ; but the better thy 
life, the more thou lovest memory. 

2596 

If the populace carry thee, thou art not sure of 
escaping a fall, and it may drop thee in a rough place. 

2597 
Put the low man in the high place and he serveth not 
so well as the high man in the low place. 

2598 

As many as live for worldly gain live for pain. 

2599 

The books of men are not the work of God, though 
the volumes were so named a thousand times. 

2600 
The heat of argument scorcheth the temper. 

2601 
Hast thou a moral right, O mourner, to garb thyself 
in such manner that thy presence repress all joy in the 
beholder ? 



282 



2602 

OF the world I ask this question, " When shall I 
know it well enough to avoid all unpleasant- 
ness? " and the world replies, '* Never! Sur- 
prises, disappointments, good luck and bad luck will 
be found at every turning." 

2603 
A little house set on a high hill is seen farther than a 
great mansion hid in a vale ; and it sometimes comes 
to pass that conspicuous smallness overtops secluded 
greatness. 

2604 
The simpleton knows it not and so pleaseth himself. 

2605 

In time to come the mind of man will mount upward 
as the eagle, and they who would prevent will stand 
beneath and marvel as the distance widens between 
the free man and the slave man. 

2606 
Nothing that will live in the minds of men can be 
accomplished without effort. 

2607 
The thought is the act in embryo. 

2608 
Great men speak of themselves with modesty, whilst 
the nobodies prattle unceasingly in self-praise. 

2609 
Chew a cud if you must, but don't expect others to 
enjoy it. 

2610 
If thou wouldst appoint thy neighbor's tasks, thou 
shouldst be willing that he appoint thine. 

2611 
If a man ask of thee thy purse, ask of him security if 
thou bestow it, lest he scorn thee for silliness. 



283 



2612 
If thou hast a good word for the world, give it ; and if 
an unkind one, suppress it, though thou art consumed 
with desire to speak and disappointment taunt thee. 

2613 
If thy feet travel in one direction and thy mind in 
another, little of good is accomplished — the house is 
divided against itself. 

2614 
The everlastingness of thought ! The most beautiful 
flower will fade in a day, but a beautiful thought 
brightens with age. 

2615 
It is not the education that is received from the 
masters that lifts one man above another, but the 
energy that he puts forth to lift himself. 

2616 

Light is the need of the world to search its darkest 
corners and drive out mystery. 

2617 
The so-called plain people are ofttimes great people, 
and upon them the nation rests in perilous times. 

2618 

The necessary thing to insure success seems to be the 
ability to rise after defeat. 

2619 
If discernment were more general, fewer hints would 
be necessary and fewer offenses given and taken. 

2620 
The health of the mind is paramount to all else, for 
on mental health depends thy very life. 

2621 
Grumbling is not good for man nor woman. It destroys 
peace and makes of the mind a wilderness, and dis- 
content is thy portion. 



284 



2622 
y^i^HE formula for acquiring great wealth has never 
L^J been divulged. Many surmise that luck plays a 
^^^ more important part than industry, and guesses 
have been made that reflect discredit on the possessors 
and their secret methods. 

2623 
When thou takest a bride, O man, thou takest into 
thy keeping God's daughter, and if thou art false to 
thy vows thou art unworthy the gift. 

2624 
The substance of life — unless it be spirit, what is it? 
And if we answer spirit, so little know we that we 
comprehend not the answer. 

2625 
The time is at hand when men acknowledge with 
frankness that to define God is not man's privilege, 
because of inability. 

2626 

The way to ruin is almost any direction that turns 
from self-respect. 

2627 
A useful lesson and a sensible one is to study yourself 
more than your neighbors, and with a better under- 
standing of yourself you will have a better under- 
standing of your neighbors. 

2628 
The best tonic for an indolent mind is a dose of ambi- 
tion self -administered. 

2629 
A hare's foot bring thee luck? Nay, the foot is more 
lucky for the hare than for thee. 

2630 
When mud is splashed on thy garments, is thy body 
injured ? Nay ; and when bad words are thrown at 
thee thy soul may remain unspotted if thou art silent. 



285 



2631 

XF the crowd offend thee, seek the few with whom 
thou canst exchange a thought. Thou shouldst 
not Uve alone in a world of ideas, for thou canst 
not gather them all thyself, and friends will assist 
thee to many that would escape thee ; therefore it 
is not profitable to live alone nor was it meant that 
man should. 

2632 
A colony of blockheads does not necessarily evolve a 
community of wooden men. There is progress every- 
where, and men may change with the age, despite 
heredity. 

2633 
Much thinking may not lead to wisdom; it may lead 
to foolishness. It is right thinking that is helpful. 

2634 

If thou dost use tongue or pen to injure another, thou 
art digging a ditch wherein to stumble. 

2635 

To find a good dog, look not amongst wolves. 

2636 
All that man knows and all that he is to know will 
be written by man. 

2637 
The groans of a day, were they merged into one, 
would frighten all laughter away from human lips. 

2638 

Naked facts should blush to be clothed with shame. 

2639 
A Summer in the woods is a Summer with the gods, 
who will share with thee many secrets. 

2640 
Go find liberty and when you have found her, do not 
try to prevent others from finding her because of some 
selfish end you may entertain. 



286 



2641 

Intemperate speech may come from a sober man. 

2642 
Embarrassing to all concerned — a fortune without 
decorum. 

2643 
The detestable habit of lying will fasten itself on any 
one who makes familiar with it. 

2644 
Robust health and a robust mind should be insep- 
arable, and that they are not is a sorrow and a general 
loss. 

2645 
A vile tongue is like a viper, breathing venom and 
inciting hate. 

2646 
A bad temper is like a quarrelsome neighbor ; to hob- 
nob and live in peace is impossible. 

2647 
A man may be slow and not be behind the age, or he 
may be fast and be obsolete. 

2648 
Labor is gain, but drudging is pain, from which the 
people yearn for deliverance. 

2649 

O sleep ! thou art the savior of man and the helper of 
every creature of earth. 

2650 
A pleasing countenance and a silver tongue — thus 
equipped the destroyer is doubly armed. 

2651 
A little smoke showeth the beginning, and the mighty 
blaze showeth the end — thus is it with public wrongs. 

2652 

The sweetness of life is sipped with the cup of death. 



287 



2653 
^^^HE effect of clothes upon the mind is deplorable. 
L} It consumes the very marrow of life to run 
^^^ neck and neck with fashion, and to run behind 
leaves one in the predicament of having tried and 
failed. 

2654 
Despotism so delights in its power that civilization 
despises it. 

2655 
Oh, haste the day when all men shall be weaned from 
evil for their gain, for every doer of evil lessens the 
sum of human happiness. 

2656 
A broad stream flows between right and wrong, and 
people on both sides are continually wading in and out. 

2657 
Fling from thee the thought that man is born to live 
forever upon the footstool when evolution will exalt 
him. 

2658 
No more heed should be given the words of the prince 
than of the plowman, except as the wisdom of one 
exceeds that of the other. 

2659 
Mind should regulate the body and make of it a 
willing servant. 

2660 

How can he who is false to himself be true to his 
friends ! 

2661 
The faults of a friend should not be trumpeted and 
our own concealed. 

2662 
When thy conscience speaks listen ; it hath something 
to say for thy benefit. 



288 



2663 
^^^/ HE stolidity of unthinking men when confronted 
C^l with fresh discoveries is ever a perplexing and 
^^^ formidable barrier between themselves and 
the educators, which tends to shut the former away 
from the new and force them further into the past. 

2664 

A long life is not promised to a young man ; such 
knowledge might increase his vices and diminish his 
virtues by the postponement of virtuous practises 
till near the end. 

2665 
The slowest place on earth is always behind time. 

2666 
When God's word is written it will contain all of 
truth. 

2667 
The reading of many books is well when working many 
days, but the reading of many books is fraught with 
some danger when no energy is put forth to idealize 
the reading. 

2668 
How can the upper stone in the structure stand if the 
nether is removed, and of what use is the nether if 
another is not raised above it — society is builded thus 
of brawn and brain ! 

2669 
Go thine own pace when walking with a knave, not 
his. 

2670 
Do not cry if the world frowns, if you have done your 
best. 

2671 
The way to disarm bad fortune is to meet it like a 
friend. 

2672 
The world is severe collectively, but individually it 
is lenient toward thy faults. 



289 



2673 
Put a little commonsense into the daily ration if you 
wish to keep in good health. 

2674 
There is a difference between the rose and the lily 
in form and in color, but who will say they are not 
alike in the origin of their birth — their source is the 
one life. 

2675 
Man is neither as small nor as great as he thinks. 

2676 
If you wish to find a student at his work, look for 
solitude; the mind works better in stillness than in 
noise. 

2677 
Though truth sometimes stands in the shadow of 
deceit, yet it can not be entirely overshadowed. 

2678 
Harken to the words of experience ; whilst they may 
not save thee entire, they may prevent thy death, 
moral and physical. 

2679 
Gone is yesterday, but now is here ; so let it be filled 
to the utmost, that when it departs regrets go not 
with it. 

2680 
Vice is not noisier than virtue when it prates. 

2681 

Keep the mind above the body at all times. 

2682 

What can one do who is chained to the past but die ? 

2683 

To affirm success is a forerunner of success. 

2684 

Fall in line when the rulers are marching heavenward. 



290 



2685 
iw^ITH the approach of the night let peace approach 
V 1 / with it ; and sleep not with a thought of hatred 
^^^ against man, woman or child of whatsoever 
race, color or condition of life. If thou dost this, 
whether thou be Christian or Pagan, thou hast naught 
to fear from the God of Love. 

2686 
If thy thoughts be unclean, filter them as thou wouldst 
unclean water, or they will poison thee. 

2687 
The chicanery amongst neighbors is as flagrant as the 
chicanery amongst rogues : there is honor and dis- 
honor in all grades of society, whether walking the 
respectable or the disreputable paths of life. 

2688 

Cast ye either good or evil thought or deed on the 
waters of life, and after many days the good and the 
evil will return unto thee. 

2689 
One way to control thy temper is to cry '* mad dog " 
and run away from it before it bites thee or thy 
friends, as it surely will if left to run at large. 

2690 

Age commands respect when age respects itself; but 
a vile tongue between shrunken lips calls only for pity. 

2691 

It is tiresome to wait for good to come when there is 
no bow of promise. 

2692 
He that glorieth in another's downfall glorieth in his 
own, for that which befalls one befalls all. 

2693 

Cage the murderer ; do not liberate him by killing, 
if thou wouldst be rid of him. 



291 



2694 

Hold fast to that which elevates thee, and despise 
not the helping hand of purity. 

2695 
Search for a perfect man, and by the image thou dost 
place before thy mind's eye thine own image is 
fashioned ; hence, searching for good benefits thee 
more than searching for evil. 

2696 

Refinement is an inner rather than an external 
quality. Fine plumage covers the ostrich, but that 
does not refine him and prevent him from vicious 
kicking. 

2697 
Does the African look black to God or the Caucasian 
white? Methinks that righteousness is more than 
skin-deep and that God judges righteously. 

2698 

Ambition wrongly directed leads to wormwood and 
gall. 

2699 

To fight for a good cause may be pardonable, but to 
fight for a bad cause is abominable. 

2700 
Step to the front if thou art faultless ; otherwise an 
invitation is becoming. 

2701 
Candor may be brutal, and when it is, only brutality 
will employ it. 

2702 
Let wicked words fall where they may, if thou art 
guiltless they will not rest long on thee. 

2703 
Thou mayest pick up a crooked stick in the forest or 
in the garden, but the task of straightening it may 
bend thy back. 



292 




2704 

^S joy makes glad it also makes sad the heart of 
him who has lived to see that life is not unbroken 
joy, that when he is rejoicing another is sor- 
rowing ; but he perceiveth that the emotions preserve 
equilibrium and strengthen sympathy. 

2705 
Did the nobodies not blow their own horn, who would ? 

2706 
The better side of man is that which is turned toward 
man. 

2707 
Renew thy faith by keeping the fire of hope bright, 
and what thou desirest will be as a light ahead which 
thou wilt strive to reach. 

2708 
Liberty is God's child, whom you should love with 
all your heart. 

2709 
Close thy lips and thy ears so tight that no ill pass 
them. 

2710 

It is fitting that men should live nobly that they die 
not ignobly. 

2711 
The beginning of sorrow is the beginning of light. 

2712 
Deceit answereth no good purpose in life. 

2713 
The perception of parents concerning their own off- 
spring seems much duller than concerning the off- 
spring of others. 

2714 
To jump over the moon were a great feat, but not so 
great as to jump from earth to the Godhead the 
night after death. 



293 



2715 

HIND a little square of the earth somewhere that 
thou canst call thine own, strive for it, work for 
it, and thou wilt become a better citizen than 
he who has naught of the soil but that which clings 
to his soles and his palms. Criminals rarely grow upon 
their own land. 

2716 
However free the mind, the body is pinioned and can 
not follow it. 

2717 
The making of a perfect man is the labor of eternity. 

2718 
The lash of inquiry has beaten many falsehoods into 
truth. 

2719 
A little sense is difficult to conceal, although a great 
deal can be hidden easily. 

2720 
Always think of thy deceased neighbor as in heaven, 
and if thou must put any one in a less agreeable 
place, put thyself there. 

2721 
Some one blunders every time the faults of another 
are told. 

2722 
A barrel of money will not buy a pennyworth of brain, 
though brain is the chief factor in making the barrel 
of money. 

2723 \ 

The passions of mankind when confined too long 
explode savagely, and the destruction is heard with 
alarm by the peaceful. 

2724 
A willingness to think, and not the capability — such 
is the condition of many, and these are drawn into 
the whirlpool of foolishness as they drift along the 
stream of novelty. 



294 



2725 
^V^HO dare proclaim that he is ordained by God, 
vlx ^^^ ^'^^^ ^^^ brother is not, is bold indeed. 
^^^ God has ordained that all shall obey the laws 
of life and all men are equal before the law. 

2726 

The backbiters are the wolves of society. 

2727 
A dunce is bearable if he knows it. 

2728 
The noblest of all pursuits is the service of humanity. 

2729 
The defense of a nation is love of home. 

2730 
The meanest opinion thou boldest of another is not 
too mean for another to hold of thee. 

2731 
The nearest approach to vice is the furthest from 
virtue. 

2732 
The best part of life is that which is best spent. 

2733 
The hills and the valleys that science has traveled 
make a long road, but there is no end in sight. 

2734 
Usually when one gives a piece of one's mind it is a 
rough corner of no value. 

2735 
The last step in vice is alone — the penalty must be 
paid by the wrongdoer. 

2736 
Visions of wealth and visions of poverty : these mental 
pictures, oftener than all others, appear to cautious 
men urging them to labor and to save. 



295 



2737 

^^i^HOU mayest love and honor the great and the 
^ J good of earth, but thou mayest not worship 
^^^ them as men were wont to do in times past 
before the age of print cleared the mind. Man born of 
woman may be thy helper, but not thy God. 

2738 
The thoughts of today are the history of tomorrow. 

2739 
He who objects to fine speech objects to fine manners. 

2740 

Alas, that the nation turn from the ways of simplicity 
to the ways of duplicity, and cast aside the garments 
of equality for kingly vestments ! 

2741 

On the wings of time cometh death, but who fears 
whose life is holy ? 

2742 
As a man's gait indicates his physical direction, it 
also points his mental direction. 

2743 
Scarcity of humor maketh a dull day, but an abun- 
dance maketh a quick one. 

2744 

Confidence in luck means confidence in illusion, 
though it would seem that there are incoming and 
outgoing tides upon which success rides. 

2745 
Boldness will carry a villain some distance, but for- 
sakes him at the door of justice. 

2746 
Murderers inflict more misery upon themselves than 
they can upon their victims. It is easier to forget 
wrong than to banish ghosts. 



296 



2747 
^^u'O think or not to think admits of no argument, 
^ J but thou mayest not think my way nor I thy 
^^^ way regarding the things beyond vision ; but 
if thou thinkest well of me and I well of thee, our 
thinking will bring us no evil, though our conclusions 
lead us far apart. 

2748 
The caperings of poverty in the guise of wealth — 
who can describe them and not both laugh and cry? 

2749 
Mistake not refinement for indifference ; the unre- 
fined will rush in where delicacy forbids intrusion. 

2750 
Even the greatest mind can not do my thinking, but 
may help me to think ; and though I may reject 
valuable lessons, my mind has grown stronger trying 
to discern truth. 

2751 
When imagination prompts the memory, what shall 
the hearer call the story ? 

2752 
Hold on to a new thought long enough to examine it 
on every side and release it only when you discover 
it possesses no fair side. 

2753 

The most pleasant of all earth dreams is the reunion of 
families in the beyond, and sweet is the teaching that 
promises the reality. 

2754 
It is righteous living rather than fantastic believing 
that makes a man ready for the great reaper. 

2755 
Under thirty years of age a man is a novice, but 
double thirty he should be an authority and so con- 
tinue without diminishing luster until evolution 
relieves him and takes him onward. 



297 



2756 

XN earlier centuries daubers in lurid colors 
attracted much attention to their pictures of 
the hereafter ; but now the truer artist is come, 
and in place of a blaze he is painting a flower ; and in 
place of a devil is drawing a man ; instead of gilding is 
spreading the greensward ; and where once was a 
throne is now a garden, wherein men and women 
move and talk and deport themselves rationally. 

2757 
A prince is he who leads an unpopular truth whom 
posterity will crown king. 

2758 
As small as man is he hath a great work to do and 
should get about it early. 

2759 
It is better to find thy place and keep|it than to take 
another's. Each has a niche, and 't is the getting into 
the wrong place that makes so much trouble, confusion 
and failure. 

2760 
Hold nothing as trivial that is sacred to another. 




298 



BOOK TEN 




2761 
EN shudder at death; but if 
death never approached, men 
would abhor one another in their 
infirmity, and the world would not 
progress with an enfeebled popu- 
lation and fixed notions. Every 
new generation is prepared for 
fresh thought that the removal of 
a former generation has made 
possible. The old branches are cut away when they no 
longer bear fruit. 

2762 
It is rash to jump at a conclusion when time is 
abundant. 

2763 
The favorite of fortune is not he who has most dollars, 
but most sense. 

2764 
Impartial history can not be written, because his- 
torians are men. 

2765 
A cherished spot is where words of love have been 
spoken. 

2766 
Nature colors thy every thought. 

2767 
Liberty is man's safety or his destruction — ^just as 
he useth it. 

2768 
Over-confidence destroys our sense of values and makes 
us imagine that we are great when we are barely 
acceptable. 

2769 
Rudeness of manner and harshness of speech are 
unpleasant enough in the ignorant, but unpardon- 
able in the educated. 

2770 
Prying open secrets is as reprehensible as pilfering. 



301 



2771 
Buy what thou needest or earn it ; steal it never, or 
it will curse thee in spite of pleading. 

2772 
The puniest falsehood may obtain so vigorous a 
growth that it will choke the truth. 'T is like a noxious 
weed whose rank growth uproots the delicate plant 
beside it. 

2773 
The taming of a shrew is the instruction of the 
ignorant. A wise woman is never a shrew. 

2774 

Feed thy soul, O mortal, if thou dost expect to save it 
for future use. 

2775 
Be not ashamed to love all men — be ashamed to hate 
one. 

2776 
The last to come under the shadow of an angel wing 
is vanity. 

2777 
Censure none if thou wouldst escape. 

2778 
Be not a common carrier of tales. It makes thee a 
servant. 

2779 
Seek a place for thyself in the highest places and fit 
thyself daily to occupy it wisely and beneficently. 

2780 
Labor is salvation — without it mankind would be 
lost. 

2781 
It is plain that life is a plan — but he who can trace 
it has not yet lived. 

2782 
Look not to riches for ease of mind — unless thou hast 
it now thou wouldst not have it then. 



302 



2783 
Do not pester your neighbor with disease talk ; if you 
wish to help him and|;save yourself, talk health or 
hold your peace. 

2784 
Expect no reward for thy good deeds — it may come 
and it may not come, but thy soul has been expanded 
and that is ^nough. 

2785 
Practise not deceit, but feel all that you express of 
pleasure or friendliness. 

2786 
Work, for the day is here. Rest, for the night is come. 

2787 
Fear approaches oftener than any other thought. Its 
very persistency makes it a dangerous foe, and only 
by constant vigilance can we protect ourselves from 
its ravages. 

2788 
Hypocrisy is contemptible — silence is not, and is 
therefore preferable. 

2789 
If thou art truly great and not a pretender thou canst 
not be tempted to depart from rectitude. 

2790 
Ferocity of manner frequently covers a cowardly 
heart. 

2791 
When love and beauty clamor for expression, why 
deny their appeal to abide with us ? 

2792 
So hollow is hypocrisy that words rattle through it 
like gravel through a cylinder and is all poured out 
whilst sincerity is silently waiting its opportunity. 

2793 
The breath of God is upon us when we feel like doing 
good and putting evil to flight. 



303 



2794 
^OWLING along with swift steeds one beholds 
only the most presentable portions of the homes 
that line the way of life, but it is really the 
backyards that tell the truer story of humanity. 



© 



2795 
A flash of truth lighteth life's way. 

2796 
Sensuality slays its devotees — there is no escaping 
from the clutches of this monster. 

2797 
The little that man knows of himself makes him 
desirous to learn more or nothing at all. 

2798 
Letters are the impress of thought and will outlive 
the handwork of art. 

2799 
The weight of testimony is in favor of homes against 
hostelries. From every point of view there can be no 
other verdict. Is not the average man readier to 
defend his home than an hotel? 

2800 
If a man neglect to return that which he borrows he 
holds his honor cheap. 

2801 
Going from bad to worse might be likened to entering 
a bear's den when the bear is at home and expect not 
to get hurt. 

2802 
Hunger is not the cause of so much theft as covet- 
ousness, which is not confined to the poor but takes 
possession of the crowned head and the men of affairs. 

2803 
Beat a child and he may desert thee — if not in person, 
in heart. Any method of correction is preferable to 
the lash, because the lash is a relic of servitude. 



304 



2804 

^^v/HE dead languages were essential to dead 
^ J peoples. 'T is the usefulness of language that 
^^^ makes its possession valuable — therefore a 
living language is worth more than ail dead tongues 
because of utility. 

2805 
Failing to get dollars, a man may get sense — • 
which is truly the need of mankind. 

2806 
The work of life is the discernment of the true from 
the false. This is education. 

2807 
Give a cordial hand to a repentant and lead conver- 
sation into the future. 

2808 
A tithe of thy money is worth more to the needy 
than a tithe of thy advice, however valuable, and 
though this suggestion is very old it is novel to those 
who have not acted upon it. 

2809 
Progress is labor, though labor may not be progress. 

2810 
If thou hast not a care over thy good name, few will 
concern to preserve it. 

2811 
Candor is not thine to use at all times. It must be 
reserved for suitable occasions. 

2812 
Rake over the dead past for a day and if thou dost 
feel the better for it, thou art a singular being. 

2813 
A man for the people is he who strives to lift them 
single-handed to a higher niche in life's temple with- 
out disturbing their various gods and religious beliefs. 



305 




2814 
{EARCH more diligently in your own life for 
defects than in another's. In this way you can 
perform double public service, as you will be 
attending to your own affairs and not meddling with 
another's. 

2815 
A wicked man is he who desires freedom that he may 
oppress. 

2816 

A little amusement is a tonic ; too much is an emetic. 

2817 
The final end of hate is inconceivable, but its direction 
is darkness and misery. 

2818 
Select your friends with at least the care that you 
would your household wares. 

2819 

Dance at a funeral if you dare, but be sure that your 
reason therefor is not misunderstood. 

2820 
Enter not the church-door to pray for thy soul and 
forget to pray for thy body, which is the temple of the 
soul and holier than the place wherein thou prayest, 
because not made by hands. 

2821 

Love must be sown to be grown — therefore expect 
not a crop of love if your heart is barren. 

2822 

A whining child needs not so much correcting as 
directing. 

2823 
A distinct note in the scale of being is sounded when 
the human voice reaches the keynote of love. 

2824 

If everybody hesitated what would become of progress ? 



306 



2825 
^f^k/HE carping of critics has wounded genius more 
^ J than aught else. Mediocrity is less injured be- 
^^^ cause less sensitive. A cruel thrust does not 
quicken genius nor is this the critic's desire. Genius 
needs encouragement. 'T is mediocrity that pushes to 
the front unassisted and unasked. 

2826 

Look to yourself for aid when your predicament is 
of your own making. 

2827 
Though sin may appear strong it is ever weak. 

2828 
The pain of parting should make holy the hour of 
companionship. 

2829 
At the bidding of love homely things become beautiful 
and old things become new. 

2830 
Love strikes no blow except in defense of its own. 

2831 

It requires more skill to mend a lie than to make one. 

2832 
The vanity of the vain inspires them to littleness 
rather than greatness. 

2833 

Be kind to thyself ; this is the reverse of selfishness, for 
all thy acts must be good and thy appetites temperate. 

2834 
The secret of contentment is hope. 

2835 
How can a cheat be happy, and when is a beggar rich ? 
Honesty and industry are the only roads that lead to 
happiness and ease. 



307 



J 2836 

y '^"TT^F thou voice the words of the dead, voice also 

Jj the thoughts of the Uving, for unto every 

^ generation is given its thinkers, and the past is 

fraught with less for the present than the present for 

the present. 

2837 
One need not go to the bottom of the sea to catch a 
fish. Truth sometimes lieth near the surface of things. 

2838 
Laying claim to integrity, exercise it constantly. 

2839 

Get into the way of giving thyself a lecture now and 
then and spare thy neighbor. 

2840 
Fling the great things out of life and the little things 
assume greater proportions. 

2841 
A playful rebuke is ofttimes more effective than a 
severe one, because it has no sting. 

2842 

Thou may est be content with thy surroundings, but 
thou mayest not with thyself lest thou cease to 
progress. 

2843 
It should be uphill all the way from birth to the open 
door of the next world. The ascent is so gradual 
that it is not perceptible. 

2844 

A coward with a bold look can accomplish much 
when little is required. 

2845 

If the door of the next woild opens to thy vision, close 
not thine eyes, but peer as far in as thou canst and 
tell what thou seest to them who would know. 



308 



2846 

ONLY in the degree that present thought is 
binding to the future, is past thought binding 
to the present ; and if this could be driven into 
the sectarian's mentaHty, there might be less 
quarreling over what is essential to salvation. 

2847 
To fight one's way to the front of public recognition 
without assistance is heroic if nothing more. 

2848 
The homely flower that opens under thine own hand 
bears a sweeter message to thee than strange bloom. 

2849 
A sure evidence of thy selfishness is the desire to have 
more than thy neighbor. 

2850 
The human mind is shaping itself for the new 
theology that hovers in the very atmosphere ready 
to descend. And, O ye of little faith, can ye not 
see that it is God's will being done on earth as 
in heaven ? 

2851 
Be reticent when strangers question, lest they learn 
of thee to thy harm. 

2852 
If there comes to thee a thought that pricks thy 
conscience, it will pierce it deep and lasting if not 
banished instantly. 

2853 
Lay not the cause of thy trouble to another and thou 
wilt the sooner overcome it. 

2854 
Hope reacheth for the hand of love in the darkness 
of sorrow's night, and if the world turneth away in 
reproach it still puts forth a hand for some pitying 
angel to clasp. 



309 



2855 
The easy bed giveth not always the most tranquil 
rest. 

2856 
A little child is more instructive than a little adult. 

2857 
Snobbery can only be eradicated by the broadest 
education inasmuch as narrow education cultivates 
it and its attendant weakness and is the beginning 
of decay. 

2858 
An angel with a flaming sword can not prevent 
scandal from entering the gates of imprudence. 

2859 
The supremacy of the body over the mind leads to 
the undoing of both. 

2860 
A fulfilment of God's love for man is permission to 
die when he hath need and rise in the scale of life. 

2861 

The mind of man is a unit — its subdivisions but a 
wordy fancy. 

2862 
The fire in a man's soul burneth through great obsta- 
cles. 

2863 
What cleanseth the heart more thoroughly of vanity 
than danger ! Then soft hands clasp roughest palms 
with common thought. 

2864 
Every day an addition is made to the literature of the 
Vv^orld, but only now and then cometh a book stamped 
immortal. 

2865 
The lioness naturally plays with her whelps, but not 
with man ; and time spent by man in forcing Nature 
to change her ways, the lioness properly resents. 



310 



2866 
If a man have opinions in a hostile camp, he had 
better keep them than force them on unwiUing ears. 

2867 

A frivolous life is a vexatious one. 

2868 
Truth will eventually overcome error, but not always 
soon enough to save the slaughter of many who 
perish whilst it gathers strength. 

2869 

The pleasure of giving pleasure is all the reward one 
could wish. 

2870 
The steps unto heaven are acts of kindness. 

2871 
The greatest hindrance to spiritual progress is vener- 
ation of superstition. 

2872 

Hammer your own views on the anvil of common- 
sense and temper them with love. 

2873 
Go to thy couch with love toward all, even thine 
enemies, for in the silence of sleep thou may est over- 
come them and master thyself. 

2874 
If you look for motives, outward forms and impressions 
will impress you less. 

2875 
Hold this thought forever : if thy desire is more light, 
it will always shine in thy soul with increasing 
brilliance. 

2876 
Lo, gold is losing its power day by day, and there is 
growing recognition of merit amongst them who have 
balanced brains. 



311 



2877 
j^i^HERE is a note of God in all that reacheth 
^ J mine ear, and in all that mine eye perceives 
^^^ there is a semblance. The rose in its hidden 
heart and the dewy wild blooms hold God close and 
express to their limit love divine. 

2878 
How can one hold another and pour the truth down 
him? He would spew it up and curse. 

2879 
The sands of the sea and the rocky mountain-peaks 
write for man their own scriptures. 

2880 

Do not tie yourself to the past nor present. Be free 
to think, that you may be free to grow. 

2881 

Anything that makes thee wiser should make thee 
better. 

2882 
Man looks upon the sun, moon and stars so often that 
he ceases to marvel at their strange beauty, which 
should always inspire him with awe and a worshipful 
spirit. 

2883 
Regard with suspicion any man who would retard 
your growth by hindering your thought. 

2884 
My fancy soareth as it will, but my imagination is 
creative and that needs directing. 

2885 
It can scarcely be said that thought originates with 
any man, but it is his if he can grasp it. 

2886 
Whosoever goeth to a fortune-teller for a fortune is 
placed on the anticipative list, if nothing more. 



312 



2887 
The ends of justice trail a long way behind courts. 

2888 
Knowledge preacheth progression. 

2889 
In the icy Poles does God labor as diligently as in the 
luxuriant tropic land to carry out his gigantic plan. 

2890 
Forward and backward — backward and forward — 
swings the pendulum of success and failure. 

2^91 
A man's religion may be as truly inherited as his 
name, but his morals should be directed and his 
tastes cultivated without reference to his inheritance. 

2892 
A great thought expressed in a shrill key impresses 
us less than a low tone. 

2893 
Though a man inherits much from his parents he 
inherits more from his country. It is difficult for a 
great soul to manifest greatness in a narrow land. 

2894 
The crumbs from one man's table will spread a 
banquet for another ; all wastefulness is wrong and 
distribution right. 

2895 
Revenge is more terrible than a revolving blade 
which slashes without mercy. 

2896 
Though a lisping child may utter wisdom at intervals, 
none are accounted wise who have not had experience. 

2897 
The sweetest song does not always proceed from the 
topmost boughs of the tree. 



313 



2898 
A haughty contempt for wrongdoing is commendable, 
but a haughty contempt for the wrongdoer is censur- 
able. 

2899 
A warm coat may cover a frozen heart. 

2900 
Oh, would that truth were mighty to slay its antagonist 
at the outset. 

2901 
The pursuit of money for personal power will land 
the hunter at last in the ditch, but to pursue it for 
noble purposes is praiseworthy. 

2902 

To catch a villain is not difficult, but to reform him 
requires more than the machinery of the law. 

2903 
There be some of long memory and racy tongue ever 
ready to accuse the reformer of insincerity if 
unfortunately he may have slipped on the path of 
rectitude. 

2904 
Though cut to the quick, pride does not fall before 
duty, though vanity may sink with humiliation. 

2905 
I see not how God can be pleased or displeased by 
what man may say or think, but I can see how man 
can injure or benefit himself by his words and his 
thoughts and especially by his deeds. 

2906 
Wise men are trying most to be just, though pious 
men may be trying most to make converts. 

2907 
The people at large praise not God more than them- 
selves for that which they have, and the viewpoint 
makes this appear right or wrong. 



314 



2908 

Thou canst not steal another's friend away and 
escape the sharp stiletto of jealousy later. 

2909 

Pander to a man's vanity and he may despise thee 
though he smile. 

2910 
The thirst of the mind is unquenchable. 

2911 
Whittle a stick to a point and it describes an unde- 
veloped mind. 

2912 

If ye desire a new heaven and a new earth, ye must 
have new thoughts. 

2913 

Inasmuch as ye depart from sincerity ye depart 
from honor. 

2914 
It were kinder to strangle affection ere it grows, than 
to ask it to live with suspicion and jealousy. 

2915 
Wherefore a mind if not for use? Wherefore an arm 
if not for use ? Wherefore anything if not useful to 
round out and perfect the man? 

2916 

Of what use is a long life without good works ? The 
retention of the physical body for evil deeds maketh 
the condition worse. 

2917 
One might as reasonably wager on the weight on a 
hook before drawing in the line as to wager on a 
future state because of some belief. 

2918 

Spontaneity of thought indicates neither shallowness 
nor depth. The words and the man indicate more 
than quickness or hesitancy of his speech. 



315 



2919 

j^i^O search for one's affinity on earth would be to 
^ J search for the proverbial needle in the hay ; but 
^^^ agreeable companionship may be met at the 
first turning and the mistakes of the affinity-hunter 
avoided. 

2920 

A rogue can be made a churchman easier than he can 
be made an honest man. 

2921 
However ambitious, the possessor of a dull eye and 
a witless tongue is heavily handicapped in the race 
for public honors. 

2922 
Delay not thy salvation, which is soul cultivation. 

2923 

Without the change called death man is debarred the 
pleasures of advanced worlds. 

2924 

A solecism may contain a lesson, and a barbarism 
convey a truth. 

2925 
There is little of worth contained in grumbling. 

2926 
Be gentle but not weak ; be firm but not stubborn ; 
be positive but not obdurate; be cautious but not 
cowardly ; be direct but not harsh. 

2927 
The loudest complaint is sometimes the least noticed 
and the last relieved. 

2928 
The seamy side of your life should not be shown. It 
offends the public and degrades yourself. 

2929 

Be content that you fret not, but be not so content 
that you aspire not. 



316 



2930 

XF I am called a Christian the world knows little 
of my true character; if I am called by any 
other religious name nothing is known of my 
heart ; but if I am called righteous my life is then 
known to all men of whatsoever belief. 

2931 
If thou hast an implacable enemy it is a sore hindrance 
to thee and to him. 

2932 
Let there be a song in thy heart when thy hand 
performeth either the chosen or the necessary work 
of thy life. 

2933 

New truths can not be accurately measured by old 
standards : new truth requires new theology. 

2934 

Alas, that the lords of creation are not all rulers of 
themselves ! 

2935 
The place for egotism is behind itself. 

2936 
A thousand good deeds can not efface one bad deed. 
On the book of life a thousand will stand to your 
credit and one to your discredit. 

2937 
Small men are purchasable, but a great man is beyond 
price. 

2938 
Genius blooms on strange stalks. 

2939 
When ambition is aroused after a long sleep it may 
not desire to rest again. 

2940 
Capture a truth whenever you find it : it is thine to 
hold. 



317 



2941 
The relation of age and wrinkles is perplexing to the 
metaphysician. 

2942 
Measure not your achievements by the mediocrity of 
one, but by the superiority of another. 

2943 

I can and I will : this declaration embraces confidence 
and determination, and both are essential to success. 

2944 

Who are the ignorant? They who know less than God, 
and that is why all men sin in degree. 

2945 

Life is a bridge of sighs to those who cross the channel 
of remorse. 

2946 

Over the mountains of science is rising the bright 
assurance of immortality. 

2947 
To encourage truthfulness do not flog it. 

2948 

Eloquence can not gloss sin, though pleading may 
protect it. 

2949 
Like an arrow from a hunter's bow comes thought 
from the Infinite to the finite mind. 

2950 

If one in a hundred would cast out fear the ninety 
and nine would be happier. 

2951 
Mercy always shines in God's world, but grows dim 
in man's when he wages injustice. 

2952 

When you meet applause question it. 



318 



2953 
^^^u/HE keenest mentality can not penetrate the 
1^) mystery of the past and the future of man. His 
^^^ earthly sojourn and a glimmer of the spirit 
world must suffice him, but his beginning seemeth 
more mysterious for the mind to contemplate than 
his destiny. 

2954 
Listeners may hear no good of themselves, but they 
may be much profited thereby if they be apt in 
applying. 

2955 
Fill thy days with goodness and thy nights will be 
free from fear. 

2956 

Dam up egotism and the stream of conversation 
would run low. 

2957 
One may have cares and no growth, but one may not 
have growth and no cares. 

2958 
Love, we say, is the most precious of human attri- 
butes. Hence we reason that God is love. 

2959 
Without continuity of thought the mind is in tatters. 

2960 
When one is searching for truth one has no time to 
hate. 

2961 
On account of limitation ignorance fails to under- 
stand intelligence. 

2962 
Should we find a little flaw in another, how can we 
blazon it and be flawless ? 

2963 
A dilemma : the hands full of money and the feet in 
the grave. 



319 



2964 
If thou art superior thou wilt lift thyself above the 
inferior. 

2965 

Laugh wherever you go and the way is cheerful. 

2966 
Thou canst be happy in a barren house, but only 
miserable in a barren mind; therefore furnish thy 
mind first. 

2967 
Oh, the pity that degenerates be born into this world 
of men and women who know not how to regenerate 
them ! 

2968 
Hatred bringeth the hater into contempt. 

2969 
God, make Thou me to look with the eyes of a saint 
and not with the eyes of a sinner ; then will I see only 
Thee and rejoice. 

2970 
If the cord of friendship be severed, there is no tone, 
however skilled, who can unite it without seam. 

2971 , 
A despondent mind makes surroundings of the same 
hue. 

2972 
The sweetest tone in any language is that which 
expresses love, and the harshest that which destroys it. 

2973 
Converse with thy soul occasionally and thou wilt 
find the acquaintance not without material and 
spiritual profit. 

2974 
What a wonderful and beautiful world does man 
behold ; yet it is only one of countless numbers that 
he may be destined to occupy in his upward journey 
toward the goal of perfect being. 



320 



2975 
He who commits suicide will not find the boatman of 
Charon awaiting him, but must journey alone in 
darkness to the unknown land. 

2976 
Over-cultivation of the commercial instinct causeth 
the artistic to subside. 

2977 
The world is a charnel-house of worldly failures. 

2978 
O God, no man is permitted to know Thee, but all may 
love the giver of life. 

2979 
The moment we listen for praise vanity clamors for 
admittance. 

2980 

A dangerous point is where decision and indecision 
meet. 

2981 

When the thoughts are sad laughter runneth away, 
for with gloom it perishes. 

2982 
The wind changes suddenly, and if it has been blow- 
ing a long time from the stormy quarter, it can not 
be far to pleasant weather. 

2983 
Whenever you slip and fall, get up and take more 
heed. 

2984 
Vanity rejoiceth much to display its possessions, but 
is despondent when it hath naught to flaunt. 

2985 
Avoid precipitance unless there be urgent necessity. 
It is not prudent to disturb a dog with a bone. 

2986 
Refinement is the kernel of decorum. 



321 



2987 
However keen the intellect and sharp the eye, if the 
conscience be dull, man when weighed in the balance 
will be found wanting. 

2988 
When the people have more religion than civilization 
the love of God and man leaveth them. 

2989 
Sages will tell you that all they know has been 
acquired by diligence, and that indolence never 
acquired anything but failure. 

2990 
Everything that tends to widen the scope of human 
vision should be received with applause. 




322 



BOOK ELEVEN 




2991 
ERY many gather at the gate of 
sin to watch the people pass 
through, and it is not uncommon 
for one of the curious onlookers to 
be pushed in with the crowd, 
much to his surprise and chagrin. 
But when once within the enclo- 
sure he is branded and carries the 
felon's mark, whether or not his 
mishap is the result of accident or intention. 

2992 

Untruth is the quintessence of evil. 

2993 

The least we can do for ourselves is to pray ; the most 
we can do is to work. 

2994 
To walk on the edge of a cliff in the darkness is 
perilous, but not more so than to walk on the narrow 
edge of dishonesty with the yawning abyss of crime 
below. 

2995 
The gateway that leads to heaven is nearer than death. 

2996 

The ability to read character is oftener the possession 
of the rogue than the honest man. 

2997 

A Godlike attribute of woman is her patience. 

2998 
A thoughtful man guardeth his speech, but vacuity is 
heard afar. 

2999 
Avoid pretense and pretenders if thou lovest thyself, 
truly. 

3000 
The sun is the hope of the world. 



325 



3001 

DOT to go in when it rains is accounted foolish, 
but when the storms of persecution beat 
mercilessly on the world's most advanced 
thinkers it is the fools who are first to seek the shelter 
of old opinions. 

3002 

Persecution is the outcome of bigotry. 

3003 
To continue in evil when conscience warns is to stand 
on a railroad-track and await the oncoming engine 
of destruction. 

3004 
The dew of heaven waters the mellow heart of benev- 
olence that each day the white flowers of kindness 
may bud and blossom for some needy soul. 

3005 

When we look to the gay and heartless world for 
sympathy we receive its scorn. 

3006 
Whatsoever we may do to uplift ourselves we may 
know that God attends our efforts. 

3007 
The finding of the truth is the work of the world, but 
there are too many drones at present. 

3008 
Lean thoughts and lean minds belong to those who 
exercise them least. 

3009 
Whatsoever may be your offense against humanity, 
there must be opportunity to rise even though exe- 
cution be the penalty, but of the time required to 
balance your account for outraging law only justice 
knows. 

3010 

Boast not of thy ancestors ; the world judged them 
long ago, it will judge thee now. 



326 



3011 

The unrest of today is the calm of tomorrow. 

3012 
Thrice welcome is a friend who comes rejoicing. 

3013 
He who labors from choice enjoys the work, but he 
who labors without choice despises the work and the 
director. 

3014 
Poverty is never kind and ofttimes cruel. 

3015 
Proclaim health, but never talk disease . 

3016 
Except a ruler be a lover of liberty he will oppress. 

3017 
Youth is not more pleasing than age. Is not the harvest 
season as pleasant as the planting time? Is not the 
full mind of maturity more satisfying than the empty 
one of childhood ? 

3018 
Say not thou art too old to learn if it be thy desire. 
Increase thy knowledge and extend thy strength to 
the uttermost point. 

3019 
The noblest of patriots is he who goeth forth from the 
heart's home without murmuring and without praise. 

3020 

Let go of prejudice, that thou mayest advance natu- 
rally. 

3021 
The plucking of thoughts from the mental garden will 
give thee pleasure and profit. 

3022 
Injustice is the torment of mankind; justice, the 
consolation. 



327 



3023 
iin^HY, to be like thy neighbor, do those things that 
viy ^^^^S thee naught but weariness? If thou 
^^^ wouldst be at thy best, follow not thy neighbor 
but set thine own pace, that health and usefulness 
abide long to serve thyself and others faithfully. 

3024 
Fly from anger as thou wouldst before a storm to 
keep thee whole, for as surely as passion overwhelm it 
will destroy thee in part. 

3025 
If thou wilt thou mayest talk with thy spirit as with 
a friend, and what thy reason may not declare thy 
intuition may discern. 

3026 
Provide a man with wings and his peril increases. 

3027 
The safety of man is his progress : his danger is his 
ignorance. 

3028 
Everything that comes to thee accept for thy enlight- 
enment. 

3029 
The day will come when the man below and the man 
on high will converse with freedom and no one doubt. 

3030 
Every night should find you a little nearer the height 
of your ambition. 

3031 
Oh, that simplicity and fashion would walk the world 
hand in hand evermore ! 

3032 
Depart not from thine own conclusions of what is 
right and what is wrong to please the king himself. 

3033 

Selfishness often prompts a lavish hand. 



328 



3034 

EOLLY says, " Risk thy whole fortune on one 
turn." Reason says, " Risk only that thou 
canst spare." But wisdom says, " Avoid the 
game of chance as thou wouldst the tentacles of the 
octopus if thou wouldst save thyself an untimely 
end." 

3035 

Compulsion might be used with a friend, not with the 
stranger. 

3036 

What have years to do with thee, O woman of eternity, 
that thou shouldst spend thy precious moments 
bemoaning their departure? 

3037 
Clothe ideas simply, and they will be more pleasing ; 
overloaded, they appear stilted. 

3038 

A layman hath as much authority to think as a 
clergyman, and having more liberty it is the layman 
that will think for the church in the Twentieth 
Century and the clergy will follow the flock. 

3039 

Be not disturbed by what the great world may think 
of thee if thou art at peace with thine own soul. 

3040 
If thou art looking for glory, look upward. If thy 
career is downward, thou wilt miss it. 

3041 
Thinking is a man's inheritance of which only the 
crafty would despoil him. 

3042 
If immortality be not true, why should men concern 
one about another? If in a twinkling, life is o'er, of 
what avail to struggle against the current? It is faith 
in immortality that makes men strive. 



329 



3043 

GLIMB as high as you can you can not reach 
your ideal in art or literature, and methinks 
there will ever be a niche above thy head — even 
in the worlds to come — through which thou mayest 
pass on thy journey in quest of perfection. 

3044 
Alas ! Infallibility is not man's inheritance. 

3045 

Thou mayest drive an ox, but it is wiser to lead a man. 

3046 

Evolution is a snail's pace : revolution the rush of a 
mad elephant. 

3047 
When a man has charity for his own misdeeds and 
none for his neighbor's, what shall be said of him? 

3048 
What can be more offensive than laudation of one's 
self to the exclusion of all others ? 

3049 

Fear not, revengeful man, that natural law will not 
punish the wrongdoer, whether it be thee or thy 
enemy. 

3050 
The brain is the meter which registers every thought 
that passes through it. 

3051 
It seemeth not true that each man individually builds 
his own body, but that a thousand, yea, ten thousand 
minds or forces, have a formative influence in the 
building of the spirit's temple. 

3052 
Whithersoever thou goest let peace go with thee. 

3053 

Faith hath no sight, but hope guides. 



330 



3054 
fOD forbid that any man say to his brother, 
Thou art doomed to eternal torment, whilst 
I will inherit bliss because of my little man- 
fashioned belief of puny conception" ; but if he sayeth 
it, have mercy upon him, for he lacketh understanding. 



e 



3055 

Thou mayest find beautiful blossoms in the common- 
est gardens : so in the human garden, some lovely 
characters will be found in poorest soil and miserable 
surroundings. 

3056 
If thou be light in thy mind thou will be in thy 
countenance. 

3057 
The highest compliment bestowed upon modesty is 
not flattery. 

3058 
Labor serves itself worst when its work is badly done> 
and serves itself best when its work is well done» 

3059 

If the heart seize a fallacy it will cherish it longer 
than the head. 

3060 
Mourn with the mourner if you choose, but it were 
better to smile than to cry and thus lift the veil of woe. 

3061 
To catch a thief does not reform him : society is only 
temporarily relieved of a degenerate. 

3062 
If thou be insulted, thou canst turn away without 
other than imaginary harm. Not so if thou retaliate : 
then thou fallest and bringest evil to thyself. 

3063 
If thy heart is fixed on doing good, thou wilt find life 
bright if there is no other life around thee. 



331 



3064 
^^k'HE sons of toil are needful — so are the sons that 
^ J direct the toilers. There is a middle line to 
^^^ which they must move : when each serves the 
other, there can be no bone of contention over which 
to fight. 

3065 
It is good to dance, it is good to sing, and if thou 
canst do these things when the sun is high, it is better 
than when darkness prevails. 

3066 
Water is God's offering to man ; rum is man's offering 
to man : the difference in the effects bespeaks the 
richness of the one and the meanness of the other. 

3067 
Dim is the lamp of ignorance, brilliant the light of 
Icnowledge. 

3068 

Fear will usurp the throne of reason if permitted. 

3069 
A gray morning may prepare a golden evening. 

3070 
Beauty without good sense is as disappointing as a 
rose without fragrance. 

3071 
Would I live forever? Yea, but not on this beautiful 
earth, but in a fairer world of light, life and intelligence, 
and then in a higher and a higher and so up forever. 

3072 
Confide in a fool if you dare and your plans will 
vanish in air. 

3073 
The joy of life is in the mind. 

3074 
Such as harken unto prophecy should forget not 
that there are false prophets among the true. 



332 



3075 
How can a man do right if he think wrong ? 

3076 
The prelude of sin is inclination. 

3077 
The finding of a flawless character is doubtful, and 
hunting for flaws is neither commendable nor profit- 
able, however much it may gratify the hunter. 

3078 
Training the young to clear thinking is part of the 
nation's work in the nation's schoolhouses. 

3079 
Is not the truth more precious than thy merchandise? 
And is not lying more harmful for thee than losing it? 

3080 
In the fulness of time man will reign over himself, 
and then prison-houses will be turned into curiosity- 
shops wherein are exhibited the devices of a semi- 
civilized people to maintain order. 

3081 

The sequel of ambition is progression. 

3082 

If trying to get somewhere, when first choice fails, 
do not refuse the second. If the bridge is gone, find a 
boat. 

3083 

Labor not to be called wise, but to increase knowledge. 

3084 

O ye that are idle, can ye not find some work to do 
that will entitle thee to be called the children of 
perpetual motion? 

3085 

Rock me gently, dear mother of Nature, that I fall 
not out of my cradle of experience and die young, for 
it is meant that I grow wise ere I depart. 



333 



3086 

XF a traveler with a donkey meet a traveler 
without a donkey, he need not divide the 
donkey in twain nor dismount and walk. Let 
commonsense direct thy philanthropy, that all be 
benefited and none injured. 

3087 

Let the light of thine own countenance brighten some 
sorrowful visage. 

3088 

The strenuous life slays, therefore the strenuous life 
will have its day and be no more, for the man is 
greater than all else and must be saved. 

3089 
The benefits of giving increase with years. 

3090 

Double your speed when the devil is behind ; slacken 
it when he is ahead. 

3091 
The little we know of God should make us modest 
about dogmatizing. 

3092 
The theft of thy goods is not so serious as the theft of 
thy character, yet in man's world the offense is 
meted a heavier punishment. 




334 



BOOK TWELVE 




3093 
HAT think ye of the man whose 
conception of God is this : A music- 
master with a gigantic choir and 
a song extending through all 
eternity ? Or this : A magistrate 
sitting in judgment on the unfor- 
tunate, and a son in the capacity 
of an attorney ? Or this : A 

monarch on a white throne, with countless attendants 

in waiting ? Think ye not such pictures a mockery and 

a reviling of Divinity ? 

3094 

Men must always groi>e, because ahead of them there 

is something unfamiliar. 

3095 
One may laugh every hour of the day and not grow 
weary, but one may not cry. 

3096 
Whoever gives thee a good thought is thy friend and 
helper though thou disdain. 

3097 
The rustling of conscience is the breathing of good 
within. 

3098 
I shall have found the supreme one when I shall have 
found first cause. 

3099 

The life that upholds thee upholds me — then why should 
there be contention, e'en though we see not with the 
same eye and think not with the same mind ? 

3100 
Low instincts disregard rank and station. They 
appear everywhere. 

3101 
Be resigned to natural law, but struggle against 
men's infliction with all thy strength. 



337 



3102 

A prince and a beggar have points in common: 
wanting much, bestowing Uttle or nothing, and 
working not at all. 

3103 

We can not crowd down a brother or sister without 
crowding down ourselves. The very act lowers us 
perchance below their level. 

3104 

If thou hast an unkind thought in thy mind, it is 
cumbering it foolishly. 

3105 
Evolution does not confine its work to six days; 
having time, it labors toward perfection slowly. 

3106 

Truth never runs from man, but man runs from 
truth and is called devout. 

3107 
With righteous desire mingle expectancy. 

3108 

When there is patience there is forgiveness. 

3109 
The truth from any source — to go forth with this 
thought banishes prejudice and gives promise of a 
greater abundance. 

3110 

We say that a dog is intelligent, so say we of a man ; 
but we say of a man that he is intellectual, but not 
so say we of a dog. 

3111 
Where there is scorn there is hatred. 

3112 
Caution is sometimes cowardice. 

3113 
The theologian can not interpret God. The infidel 
does not try, and this seems all the difference in them. 



338 



3114 
^^^/HERE is no finality to customs : the usages of 
^ J today are the conditions of tomorrow; the 
^^^ evolution of manners will in time lead to kind- 
ness, sincerity and refinement ; and selfishness, deceit 
and veneer will belong to the vulgarity of the past. 

3115 
Labor to some definite end ; thou mayest as well be 
idle as to run aimlessly. 

3116 

Confess your faults to yourself, that you may learn 
them by name and dismiss at will. 

3117 
Whenever there is friendship there is leniency ; when- 
ever there is jealousy there is distrust. 

3118 

Man is a fragment of God. He is not all spirit nor all 
matter : he is both, and it seemeth he must always be 
thus to express individuality. 

3119 
Wonderful are the secrets that Nature will reveal to 
him who pries. 

3120 

Fear no man's influence over thee — thou art strong to 
protect thyself. 

3121 
Reason is more precious than gold — yea, than fine 
gold — and more to be cherished. 

3122 

The littlest among men desires to be himself rather 
than another. Fortune he might exchange, but self- 
hood never. 

3123 
The beauty of life is perceived by the soul : the eye 
seeth but the wrapping. 

3124 

Love to live and live to love, for that is the law. 



339 



3125 

Weakness cries for a savior ; strength depends on 
itself. 

3126 
Tie thyself to no man's anchor ; let out thine own 
cable and watch and wait for opportunity. 

3127 
Cherish hope. Love desire. They are helps that will 
buoy thee when the waters are deep. 

3128 

God help the insane ! They inspire only pity and fear 
in man. 

3129 
The relation of matter to mind and mind to matter 
is unknowable. To say that all is mind is like saying 
that the seed is the apple. 

3130 

It is as easy to quarrel as it is to meet, but who sayeth 
it is good? Nay, it maketh of thee a very dragon's 
tooth. 

3131 
The thought that stayeth most with thee is shaping 
a cell for itself in thy physical brain. 

3132 
When thou goest a-fishing for ideas bring home only 
thine own catch. 

3133 
Thou must keep thyself above thy traducer if thou 
wouldst escape injury. 

3134 
If thy treasures are all of the material kind exchange 
a portion for the spiritual kind, for it is only of the 
latter that thou takest with thee to adorn thy new 
home. 

3135 
If thou puttest God in heaven thou must also in hell, 
for is He not in all and through all ? 



340 



3136 

BN idle knave may be served by a toiling fool, 
or an idle fool may be served by a toiling knave, 
but it were better that every man were justly 
employed and that idleness, ignorance and knavery 
were not. 

3137 
Go into the wildness to get that of which the town 
robs thee. 

3138 
Spurn a lie that the truth may be presented. 

3139 

The speech of a worthless fellow hath not breath to 
live. 

3140 
Find thy level and begin thy work. This is more 
profitable than floating above thy capacity without 
a foothold. 

3141 
Listen to a fool if thou choose, but remain firm if he 
would persuade thee to become one. 

3142 
A man should not change his morals with his coat 
unless he puts on a better one each time. 

3143 

Until thou art free from blemish be not boastful. 

3144 
To become serious is not to become wise. A man's 
manner conveys many a falsehood. 

3145 

Is not the righteousness of a Jew as pleasing as the 
righteousness of a Christian? Who dare preach that 
the life is not of more concern than the religion ? 

3146 
The world is begging for strong men ; of vain men 
and weaklings there are too many. 



341 



3147 

Use candor with caution when at a loss for words. 

3148 

Methinks the wine of Ufe will fill the cup of the 
future to overflowing and that men will drink of it 
great draughts that will make them stronger to 
search for the truth. 

3149 

Few love their enemies, but many pity them. 

3150 

Judge another as you would judge yourself and the 
judgment will be light. 

3151 
What hast thou done today to win merited praise, or 
even to receive the approbation of thine own soul? 

3152 
If you keep your own mind clean you will be too busy 
to look for dirt elsewhere. This ancient thought must 
be repeated countless times before it becomes a truth 
to the idler. 

3153 
Folly laughs loudest when it is most unchecked ; but 
the gall and wormwood of the morrow it can not 
escape. 

3154 
Nimble thoughts may make a quiet tongue. 

3155 
The road to poverty is not more beset with danger 
than the road to wealth. 

3156 

Give me but a sip of love each day ; never a full cup, 
lest I am surfeited. 

3157 
Recognize your blessings each day, but never name 
your troubles. 

3158 

The heart of selfishness is egotism. 



342 



3159 

Suspense casts a shadow over the disk of hope. 

3160 

The willingness to die for one's country can only be 
excelled by the desire to live for it. 

3161 

The day will come when the dishonest man will look 
like a wart on the body politic, a disfiguring and 
unwanted thing. 

3162 

As speaks the tongue should speak the heart, but 
alas! there be many who fear to let their hearts be 
heard though the tongue roll in honey. 

3163 

The leaders of fashion — what are they but the slaves 
who dance for their master, the costumers? 

3164 

Take not refuge in weakness ; if that be thine infirmity 
conquer it or die in the effort. 

3165 

As feeble as thou art, O man, thou art strong enough 
to rise if thou hast desire, even unto paradise. 

3166 

It is difficult to love ourselves enough to keep from 
doing wrong. 

3167 
No man need search for a fool until he has examined 
himself. 

3168 

The hindrance to real progress is greed. 

3169 

The track of destiny lies across every life. 

3170 

The greatest prophet is but a fallible man. 



343 



3171 
^^iJHE great heart of Nature beats strong, and if 
%^ J thou wouldst be strong keep as close to her as 
^^^ thou canst when earning thy daily bread; be 
simple, be sincere, be honest, be faithful, and she will 
love thee well and keep thee longer on earth. 

3172 

Our chief executive : a man but not a ruler ; a guide 
but not a master ; serving but for a day to step aside 
that another may be given the honor to lead a free 
people onward. 

3173 
When a mind is centered on the great and immovable, 
how can it move nimbly with the flippant and tem- 
poral ? 

3174 
A benevolent man does not squander, neither does he 
give to impoverish: he bestows to strengthen the 
hands of the needy. 

3175 
If thou perceivest a fault in thy friend's character help 
to conceal it until mended as thou wouldst a rent in 
a garment. 

3176 
Look ahead. The sunrise of tomorrow is more to thee 
than the sunset of yesterday. 

3177 
The way to lasting wealth is not through avarice but* 
through generosity. 

3178 
Love thyself so much that thou canst not do wrong. 

3179 

Truth is ever triumphant whether or not error admits 
it. 

3180 

Our Nation ! A land of luxury where the lowest may 
rise to enjoy the best and be accorded the place won 
by energy and ability. 



344 



3181 

A human life is a patchwork of experience neatly or 
clumsily joined together. 

3182 

The mainstay of society is art. 

3183 

Would that we knew of God, that thou mightst tell me 
and I thee of Him, but we know nothing and are 
vain to pretend. We can only love and trust. 

3184 

If you are anxious to serve, strive for first place, but 
if you desire to rule it is unbecoming. 

3185 
The uproar of traffic disturbs the muse. 

3186 

The light of the world, the illumined mind. 

3187 
An abundance of knowledge makes rich the man. 

3188 
Sin is ignorance, ignorance is limitation ; therefore to 
sin is to miss that which our birthright bequeaths. 

3189 
Principles elude the careless. It is only the careful 
searcher that discovers them. 

3190 
O imaginary hero, thou canst vanquish any foe in thy 
silent dialogues, but art thou not too frequently 
routed in real life to shout even in the chamber of 
thought? 

3191 

On what can my soul subsist? Not on imperfection 
and coarseness : it must have beauty or it droops. 
Give it but a lily or a rose and it layeth hold of God's 
hand and soars. 



345 



3192 

Have courage to think and be assured that none but 
the selfish would prevent thee. 

3193 

In as much as we transgress the law in so much do we 
enslave ourselves. 

3194 

Vanity bids thee follow thy neighbor in his extrava- 
gance and display, but pride commands thee to stand 
as a rebuke to extravagance and ostentation. 

3195 

Better be slack in thy garb than in thy morals. The 
one may subject thee to jeers, but the other will 
bring thee to tears. 

3196 

If thou hast a counterpart in a star thou must soar 
to find it. 

3197 
Truly there must be many mansions for many souls. 
They could not all be housed together and harmony 
prevail. 

3198 

Thou shouldst not sing thy love-song as thou wouldst 
a war-chant, nor speak thy wooing as thou wouldst 
declaim verse. Thy tones must fit thy words or thy 
words will fail. 

3199 

There is no equality except that of spiritual and intel- 
lectual development. 

3200 

There is a little corner of society that longs only for 
that which is of lasting value. The big center fights 
for the ephemeral and is satisfied with clothes and 
small things that shame the soul. 

3201 

Throw a protecting arm about me. Great Savior of 
souls, that I turn in my orbit orderly and not drop 
from my place. 



346 



3202 

If thou couldst compare thyself with an archangel of 
wisdom thou wouldst never again condemn. 

3203 

Never invite defeat by doubting. 

3204 

There are as many gods as there are men, and as no 
two men are alike there are no gods alike. 

3205 
Only great men love principles more than self. 

3206 

The sweetness of life is found most in kindness, one 
to another. 

3207 
Thy conscience is not mine nor mine thine. Consider 
this and be kind. 

3208 

The bitterest today is that which contains no hope 
for the tomorrow. 

3209 
The shining sea and the troublous brook are as truly 
witnesses of the oversoul as he who observes. 

3210 

Men and women despise themselves, else they could 
not do despicable things. 

3211 

If thou art prone to bemoan circumstances thou 
lackest time to better them. 

3212 

What know vain and foolish men of wisdom? Yet 
we permit them to rule us. 

3213 

When I fill my days with earthly things they lack, 
when I fill them with spiritual things they lack, but 
when I share and share alike they are full. 



347 



3214 
The end of life is but the beginning. The portal of 
death is the entrance to larger understanding. 

3215 

Happiness is mine and it is thine, but we must look 
for it or it evades us. 

3216 

God loves all men alike, else He were not just ; but all 
men do not love Him alike, hence the injustice. 

3217 
Begin thy reformation today by casting out prejudice. 

3218 

Thou mayest convince of wrong with love ; thou canst 
not with hate. 

3219 
Be thou a star in thy community. Many stars light 
the path and fewer be lost. 

3220 
Hold to thy faith in immortality however much thou 
art buffeted by the thousand beliefs about thee. 

3221 

Let go of today when tomorrow comes, whether it be 
joy or weeping. 

3222 

Not duty before pleasure, but duty with pleasure, will 
make thy life of benefit to thee. 

3223 

They who jog along on the beaten track have an 
easier time than they who beat the bush for truth, 
but the latter know more of the country through 
which they are going. 

3224 

To have a clear mind keep a clear conscience. 

3225 
A vision of truth is a vision of love. 



348 



3226 
Living is dying and dying is living : it is law and order. 

3227 

Life runs faster than most men can follow and run 
straight. 

3228 
If love rules thy life thou hast nothing to fear, but 
lust is the dragon that slays. 

3229 
If you have a hobby do not ride it to the injury of 
others. 

3230 
In proportion as pride increases do vanity and petti- 
ness decrease. 

3231 

Make peace with thyself and thou art at peace with 
all. 

3232 

Science is continually lowering the walls of super- 
stition and will eventually raze them to the ground. 

3233 
A nest of vipers in thy bosom is anger, malice and 
hatred, and they will sting thee to death if warmed 
therein. 

3234 

The imagination places God in a great light, the 
adversary in darkness. 

3235 
Purity sweetens life. 

3236 
If thou wouldst save thyself from degradation, turn 
from lust. 

3237 
A king is a man, a queen is a woman, raised not by 
God above other men and women by talent, choice 
or fitness. 

3238 

Tempt no man to fall, for that is thy shame. 



349 



3239 

XF thou thinkest that happiness will come from 
external things, shut thyself with offensive 
companionship in a palace which art has 
perfectly adorned, and thou wilt declare that it is the 
spirit that must be satisfied rather than the eye. 

3240 

Worship not gold nor despise it : work for it and use 
it with wisdom. 

3241 
As glides the brook through the meadow, so glides 
thought through a tranquil mind. As rushes a cataract 
through the gorge, rushes confusion through a dis- 
turbed mind. 

3242 
It would seem that God is the kernel and man the 
husk. 

3243 

Music, voice or string, can ease thy suffering when 
thou findest the key. 

3244 
If the age of man be five times his growing time, 
behold the threescore and ten years is not middle age. 

3245 
If any one smile at thee nothing is gained by frowning. 

3246 

Lean on thyself and if thou fall thou canst not blame 
another. 

3247 
Some individuals thunder loud, but never strike. 

3248 
A man can find evil in the last place he is inclined to 
look for it. Sin lurketh in every heart. 

3249 
Cover thyself with glory — that is a brilliant robe — but 
seek it at the citadel of peace and not on bloody fields. 



350 



3250 

Why rush through life ? If you walk you will reach the 
end too soon to accomplish your work. 

3251 
Just a little ahead of mercy dwells justice. 

3252 

Turn a plant always with the same side to the window 
and observe the result and apply the lesson to thy- 
self. 

3253 
Is immortal youth possible? Yea, as the flesh waxeth 
old, the spirit will reclothe itself in a more beautiful 
garment. 

3254 
Lamentable as it may appear to the theologian to 
have evolution sweep away his dogmas, let him be 
comforted — it relieves him of much quibbling. 

3255 
A man is not quick to grasp the truth when weighted 
with traditions. 

3256 
Evil, thy name is imperfection. 

3257 
Pardon an insult, but keep the lesson. 

3258 

Noble aspirations check ignoble desires and finally 
the soul outgrows them. 

3259 
A single thought of wrong is a scratch on the delicate 
surface of thy soul. 

3260 
Quick is adversity to point false friends. 

3261 
Hasten the day, O God, when all men shall be pos- 
sessed of reason. 



351 



3262 

Education is a mental candle, but one candle will not 
illumine all of the mind's chambers. 

3263 
Thought fills the very universe : the under worlds 
and the upper worlds are bathed in it. If a man catch 
the thought of the upper worlds it is well with him. 

3264 

Gossiping about yourself and others is the highway 
that common minds travel. 

3265 

Humanity knows nothing of Deity; yet it pretends 
and quarrels about its countless conceptions. 

3266 

That which is within easy reach does not gratify the 
ambitious. 

3267 
Ofttimes when God is ready man is not and so puts 
from himself a profound truth that would serve to 
carry him up a steep mountain of trouble. 




352 



BOOK THIRTEEN 




3268 

MAN can not conceive of God, 
and why should he try? He can 
only draw a colossal man-image 
and wonder that his caricature 
is not recognized by a brother 
whose understanding and venera- 
tion reach a higher plane. Per- 
chance he may pray that his 
brother may be made to see through 
his little eye. Oh, the vanity of weak minds ! 

3269 
Let facts be simply told if at all and refrain from 
adorning thyself with them. 

3270 
Be both merry and wise. Wisdom does not preclude 
mirth. 

3271 
The lust of gain and the love of man are forever 
separated. 

3272 
Boldly, as with an army behind thee, stand against 
the invasion of thy morality. 

3273 
The extreme of caution develops fear. 

3274 
Consider the beautiful and the true, to banish the 
ugly and the false. 

3275 
Rehearse virtues and faults will subside. 

3276 

Ye men and women of earth, if ye knew ye were 
building yourselves by your thoughts, would ye not 
change some of them ? 

3277 
Sin lieth as much in too much faith as too little. 



355 



3278 
It is not more dangerous to hover on the brink of 
adversity than to scale the wall of prosperity. Either 
state requires caution. 

3279 

Ten thousand men learn their lessons in ten thou- 
sand ways and in ten thousand varying lengths of 
time. 

3280 
Season thy speech with love even when thou utterest 
the sternest rebuke. 

3281 

Sarcasm is a sharp weapon, and he who uses it is most 
hurt. 

3282 

Ever hold a vision before thine eyes of better things 
to come : a cleaner heart, a brighter mind, a purer 
soul, and such temporal blessings that will make thy 
life an aid and not a hindrance to mankind. 

3283 

Fondle your faults and they will master you. 

3284 

If our hands were always filled with flowers we would 
cease to love them. 

3285 
If thou wilfully break thy promises thou art blacken- 
ing thy character as none other can. 

3286 

The repose of an aroused consciousness differs much 
from the repose of a slumbering consciousness. One 
is thinking, the other is dreaming. 

3287 
Be kind to every living creature. This is cultivating 
love and compassion and will heal thee of many 
infirmities. 

3288 
Lack of love is a lack of God. 



356 



3289 

The saints of earth are often the most persecuted, and 
the pioneers of more exalted thought the most mis- 
understood. 

3290 

A calm mind is a good health signal. 

3291 
Hold thyself against pessimism. Optimism is the 
blossom, pessimism the dead leaves of daily life. 

3292 
Filter thy thoughts before putting them into words. 

3293 
Oh, for a deep purse to do a great work, says unselfish- 
ness. Oh, for a deep purse for my gratification, says 
selfishness. 

3294 

The comfort of age is intellect. 

3295 

Belittle not the prattling babes of fashion ; they are 
too small already, inasmuch as they are pleased with 
their existence. 

3296 
Not in the annals of history has it been possible for a 
man to avoid responsibilities and be remembered. 

3297 
A foretaste of heaven is right thinking. 

3298 

Write thine own bible and then compare it with others. 

3299 
Money is the solace of only the foolish. 

3300 
Labor for the truth — it will elate thee. 

3301 
No truth becomes yours until you can assimilate it. 



357 



3302 

^W— ^ET thy soul express itself, O man and O woman ! 

I 4 Let it sing a glad song in the day, and let it 

chant by night! With pen and with brush let 

thy hand express thy visions and thy mouth utter 

thy intuitions ! Rejoice and work ! Work and rejoice ! 

3303 
The news of today is history; tomorrow, therefore, 
man's duty to the future man is grave. 

3304 
Great writers are longer loved than great fighters. 

3305 
The law of life is love, but the transgressors are count- 
less. 

3306 

A statesman without honesty of hand and purpose 
is a national assassin. 

3307 
Beauty lieth everywhere, but if one does not per- 
ceive it, one may deny it, and so deceive. 

3308 

The suicide tampers with God's plan and therefore 
meets suffering. 

3309 
Thou mayest purchase fine raiment for thy body, 
but thy naked soul thou must clothe by thine own 
labor. 

3310 
Sweeten life with compassion. 

3311 

Give us strength as of a mighty wall to stand against 
corruption in high places, and let every honest voice 
be raised in protest against pilfering from State moneys. 

3312 

If I am to live alway, my daily prayer is for more 
light; with more light I need not so much help. 



358 



3313 

A ferocious temper indicates a weak will, for when the 
will is strong the temper is smooth. 

3314 
Thou canst not lift thy voice against any vice suc- 
cessfully unless thou art free from it. 

3315 
Get into the harness today and work : idleness is the 
foe of the republic. 

3316 

Give with a clean mind and a clean hand — then thy 
gift is not spoiled with a thought of gain. 

3317 
Hear thou my prayer and in kindness grant me truth, 
which is that for which I pray. 

3318 

God hath writ thy life with a clear hand across the 
starry firmament. 

3319 
They that strut are not exalted : 't is but their way of 
deceiving. 

3320 
A princely beggar and a beggarly prince is the exoteric 
church. 

3321 

No one knows better than the hermit the value of 
good company. 

3322 

Full deliverance from toil might make us indolent. 

3323 

Men travel far and wide to find the secret of happi- 
ness, but never return with it. 

3324 

The wicked prate more about injustice than the 
righteous; the slothful more about hard times than 
the provident. 



359 



3325 
Those who duel are not admirable from any stand- 
point. 

3326 

To become great one must first be willing to become 
small. 

3327 
When one is with the intelligent, argument is not 
valueless ; but when with the ignorant it is. 

3328 

To love flowers is not always to possess them. Alas ! 
the true lover's hand may be denied a clasp of their 
beautiful forms and his eyes behold them only through 
the florist's window. 

3329 
Where one is merciful many are not, therefore misery 
abounds. 

3330 

When society becomes sufficiently intelligent it will 
become respectable. 

3331 

As rises the lark on a dewy mom, so does my spirit 
rise and sing. 

3332 
In imagination fly with me to the spheres where lust 
is not and love is. 

3333 
If people were immersed in pure love, crime would 
hide in shame, but while it laves in lust there is not 
hope. 

3334 

In the great day of thyself God will give thee a plainer 
view of thyself than of Himself. 

3335 

If God were a person He were not kind to permit so 
much misery ; but if He is the spirit of growth the 
mortal mind can reason with clearness concerning 
many things. 



360 



3336 

XN the watches of the night and in the midday 
no man is alone — not one. The eye of the Spirit 
is upon him ever. Yea, a thousand spirit eyes 
may witness his good and evil deeds and see them 
recorded on his soul. 

3337 
Folklore moves the world even unto this day. 

3338 

Girt thee about with moral cleanliness, for thou art 
at no time hid. 

3339 
Bestow a kind thought on every living creature if 
thou wouldst possess thy soul whole. 

3340 

The moment a soul feels the need of truth it will cast 
about for it. 

3341 
The equator is not nearer the center of the earth than 
God is near man. 

3342 
When meeting a stranger heed what thy soul tells 
thee of him. 

3343 

Past ages are lost to us : we see not back of our birth 
except through history. 

3344 

The sunset and the sunrise are beautiful phenomena, 
one suggesting activity and the other repose. 

3345 
The business of life is growing a soul, not for selfish- 
ness but for righteousness. 

3346 
The sighs and regrets that rise from the suicide's grave 
are like unto the tolling of many bells, making their 
coveted sleep a long and wakeful day of clanging 
discords. 



361 



3347 
^^^k/HE sun myths will always abide with us, because 
^ J they contain so much of truth. Hence Christmas 
^^■^ will ever be a day of rejoicing and giving, even 
as it was under another name with the peoples of 
most ancient nations. 

3348 

The temperate man may be the weak man. 'T is he 
of strong desires and controlling will that is the strong 
man. 

3349 

Society is an odd brew — the substance lying between 
the froth and the dregs. 

3350 
Popularity won with gold is scarce beyond contempt. 

3351 
With love pursue your work and it will not pursue 
you. 

3352 

To be tied to a bad habit is like having one's boat 
tied to a stake. Even with all sails set, there is no 
progress. 

3353 

The sea is a great mother : she has cradled souls since 
the beginning of man. 

3354 
Extreme virtue, like extreme vice, is hard of texture. 

3355 

The breathings of anger carry the poison of disease 
around and about. 

3356 
Be up and about thy work ; be up and about thy play : 
lag riqj: and thou wilt enjoy both. 

3357 
Your attitude toward the brute creation is your 
attitude toward God ; because if you have not a care 
for His creatures, you have not true love for Him. 



362 



3358 

r 1 1 fair bloom it is not alone the sense of sight and 
^^ smell that is gratified ; it is the spirit of the 
flower that addresses our spirit, making us lift our 
thoughts to the source which feedeth them and us 
with life. 

3359 
If gloom envelop thee thou art in the fog of wrong 
thinking and in danger of rocks and shoals. 

3360 
The truly good individual must be active. Inertia is 
not goodness. 

3361 
Say to no man that he is a fool because thou thinkest 
he is exercising a lesser degree of wisdom than thyself. 

3362 

The lessons of the day are many, but we neglect them, 

3363 

Fashion puts a yoke on every neck that bends to it. 

3364 
Life would be beautiful were it not ornamented with 
the non-essentials that make it tawdry. 

3365 
In trying to kill time man kills himself. 

3366 
If a man love to be good it is not so much to his 
credit as his pleasure that he is. 

3367 
The tree and the leaf, the bud and the bloosji— -all 
these in their unfoldment are helping God. 

3368 
The beauty of earth life is but a dim reflection of the 
surrounding spirit realm. 



363 



3369 

X ASKED a flower one Summer morn, 
Just after it was newly born, 
Why it had sprung up from the soil 
Into a world of death and toil. 
" Why don't you know, O tearful one, 
That I adore the blessed sun? 
And every kiss he gives to me 
Do I return that I may be." 

3370 

If you dally with a knave, yourself you may enslave. 

3371 
Man stands as it were in the center of his own cir- 
cumference : the greater the man, the larger the cir- 
cumference. 

3372 
Failure to gather gold is not a sin ; failure to gather 
wisdom is. 

3373 
God hath a work for every soul upon earth. If it is 
neglected now it must be done later with less favor- 
able conditions. 

3374 

Do not attempt to make of idiots. Christians, Moham- 
medans or Rationalists; be content to set them an 
example of righteous living and be kind. 

3375 
There be many whose lives appear like the dwarfed 
and twisted shrubs of Japan. 

3376 
Each church is fenced around and about with a creed 
which only serves to shut out the light and the people. 

3377 

Waft unto me clean thoughts, O winds of heaven, and 
blow from me those tainted with selfishness and unfair 
ways. 



364 



3378 

XT seems passing strange that we of this time 
shall at some distant day be called an ancient 
people. We shall be pitied, laughed at and 
copied, but God forbid that our vices live longer 
than our virtues. 

3379 
Lamblike submission to environment was once a 
sign of piety, but progress calls it lack of energy. 

3380 

Seek the shelter of kinship when the world doubts 
thee: there must be one who will strengthen thy 
courage and say to thee, ** Despair not." 

3381 

Vocation has much to do in shaping character and 
repressing naturalness. 

3382 

Pray that the hand of justice may not write against 
thee. 

3383 

Poverty when newly encountered hath a rougher edge 
for the virtuous than for the vicious. 

3384 

In order to be good a man may not have been bad. 

3385 

Pile not your woes upon another, even when requested 
and advised to do so. Stand erect and they will 
gradually fall off. 

3386 

Fear is the basest robber of mankind. 

3387 
Is the spectacle of a drunkard a hindrance to intem- 
perance, or is the example a hindrance to temperance ? 
The answer depends much on the standing of the man. 

3388 

Faith is a strengthener of patience. 



365 



3389 
Every child should be taught that his name is a 
precious possession to guard; that he must carry it 
ever on a banner so high that all the world may see 
that it is not tarnished. 

3390 
Somewhere in the world there is sympathy and love 
for thee, though the spoken words may not reach thee 
in thy needful hour. 

3391 
A headless specter is less to be feared than a headless 
toiler. 

3392 

All that seemeth harsh is at last swallowed up in love. 

3393 
Thou who toucheth mine eyelids with sleep have a 
care for my soul on its nightly journey. 

3394 
Foremost amongst men is not he who boasts his 
righteousness, but he who doubts it. 

3395 - 
The highest point in life is the highest consciousness. 




366 



BOOK FOURTEEN 




3396 
HE soul is like a mirror; upon it 
is reflected every act of the body, 
whether it be good or evil, wise 
or foolish. These reflections make 
up the book of life, and we have 
reason to think the exhibit may 
cause us shame and confusion 
when the leaves are turned in the 

great day of our demise to ascertain our rightful 

place in the abode of souls. 

3397 
Feed the hungry, even if they be ungrateful not in 
numbers but singly. Turn no opportunity from thee 
to be of service, for that is a measure of good that is 
intended for thee. 

3398 

Thy language, O flower, is thy fragrance ; thy color is 
thy song. 

3399 
The seedtime is now and so is the harvest: sowing 
and reaping is daily work. 

3400 

Oh, the misery of the criminal, for whether he knows 
it or not he has missed happiness. 

3401 

The road to freedom is upward and the way to slavery 
downward. When this thought is filed in the mind 
men will begin their own reformation. 

3402 

We prize the beauty of the rose today because it 
fades tomorrow. 

3403 

The haste with which we judge makes us fallible. 

3404 
The finding of riches is the finding of thyself. 



369 



3405 

XT were said of a scholar that he knew so much 
that his brain was too hard pressed to be useful, 
and it sometimes happens that such men can 
not turn around without spilling an idea that the 
empty head appropriates and applies without grati- 
tude, acknowledgment or apology. 

3406 
Let thy daily prayer be peace, and with peace will 
come harmony and with harmony health. 

3407 
A nimrod is an anomaly. 'T is woman's place to 
nourish and not to slay. 

3408 
Love will bring to thee both joy and sorrow, but it is 
divine and at last will overcome sorrow and leave thee 
only joy. 

3409 

A rhapsody — when the mind and the heart are in 
harmony with the rhythmic universe. 

3410 
How tender the love of God ! He knoweth the tiniest 
need and bends to it ; He heedeth the cry of the atom 
and succoreth it. 

3411 
To dwell too much on the cost of things is not to 
enjoy them. 

3412 
He that resorteth to unfair means, that falleth into 
a rage, that sayeth falsely, measureth himself publicly. 

3413 

If thou fearest either man or beast, thou makest them 
to hate thee. 

3414 

What a mean little thing is a lie, but like the gnat it 
can sting. Yea, a lie is the gnat that stings the very 
soul. 



370 



3415 
If Summer hath its lovers, so hath Winter. Love is 
never absent. 

3416 
Economy is wise use of that which thou hast ; it is 
not penuriousness. 

3417 
When Cupid is controlled by commercialism he will 
not long attend. 

3418 

Ten thousand fools can not equal one wise man, but 
alas, when will the fools learn this and become wise ! 

3419 

Heed not man's prattle, but give ear when he speaketh 
truth. 

3420 

If thou wouldst be well think well. 

3421 

War is in defiance of higher law, and the spectacle 
makes a vale of tears. 

3422 

Be not swayed by impulse : wait till thy reason speaks. 

3423 

As the sweat of the slave has dripped in the cane- 
brakes, so in degree to their intelligence do all men 
suffer who toil only with their hands. It is the mind 
alone that elevates. 

3424 
To touch sin but lightly scars thy memory. 

3425 
An evil deed can be hid from the physical eye, but 
not from the spiritual eye. Yea, that seeth clearer 
and never closes. 

3426 

There is poetry in every heart, though rhymes may 
never be. 



371 



3427 
^^lJHE public does not think or care so much about 
^ J a man's antecedents as about him. Knowing 
^^■^ this it were wiser to look to himself for his 
glory than to hang onto the coat-tail of his grandfather. 

3428 
The universe is quivering thought. 

3429 

Abundant faith increases happiness. 

3430 

If the primitive man were to meet the modern what 
could he claim? 

3431 

The best end of a bargain is the honest end. 

3432 

The heat of battle is the cold of death. 

3433 

There be many whose whole lives are a-hunger for 
instruction and yet they are denied time to appease it. 

3434 

Listen ! If thou art silent thou canst hear the Lord in 
the garden of thy soul. Breathe not and He will speak. 

3435 

The majesty of divine law inspires me to obey. 

3436 

Love is God. 

3437 

Wait patiently for good and expect it. 

3438 

The universe is man's home. 

3439 

Be not submerged by floating opinions ; keep thy 
individuality. It is God's gift to thee and not to be 
lost. 



372 



3440 
God is speaking, says observation ; God hath spoken, 
says theology. 

3441 

What art thou seeking, O man, in the sewers of Ufe ? 

3442 

Keep a mental scout out that not a harmful thought 
enter thy domain. 

3443 
Illiterate men may be soul wise. 

3444 

That which springeth up by the wayside we do not 
admire and pass it by. It is our ideal that we most 
love. 

3445 

At the end poverty is as kind as wealth. 

3446 

Wisdom is for thee if thou dost seek diligently ; but 
it Cometh not without persistent invitation. 

3447 
Though nations perish I am. 

3448 

The love-songs of the spheres are sweet to the attuned 
ear. 

3449 

My strength increaseth with knowledge. 

3450 

There lieth at the bottom of all living trouble a 
foundation of selfishness. 

3451 

Compassion weeps whilst cruelty laughs. 

3452 

Man is folded in the wings of Divine love. 

3453 

The measure of a man is himself. 



373 



3454 
That which proceedeth from thy soul is divine and 
should be reverenced. 

3455 
The theater of life is one's own consciousness : there 
all the comedy and tragedy is played to the / am who 
applauds merit and deplores failures. 

3456 
Work and health are inseparable ; this should be 
repeated until the world believes it. 

3457 
Love never fades nor dies — it is divine — its counterfeit 
may — that is human. 

3458 
A man may walk in the church all the days of his life 
and be far from God, and a man may walk with God 
all the days of his life and be far from the church. 

3459 
The universe sings with a sweet voice, Life is love 
and love is life. 

3460 
If occasion require thee to express an opinion, do not 
proclaim it truth. 

3461 
The span of time from youth to age is not a second of 
the eternity man has entered. 

3462 
The problems that confront us are sky-high, therefore 
we must look upward if we would compass them. 

3463 
The homing instinct is so strong in man that it 
makes nations and saves them. 

3464 
Out of the remnants of the past do we try to piece a 
modern garment, but the seams and the rents will 
show. 



374 



3465 

If I shall see God in my flesh I must have perfect 
health. 

3466 
The flower speaks its love through its fragrance. 

3467 
When we image beauty we shall have less ugliness. 

3468 

Bungling thought brings doubts and fears. 

3469 
Man's destiny is Godward. 

3470 
Every man is a miniature world revolving on its own 
axis. 

3471 
Thou canst not kindle love with a frown nor warm 
the heart with a cold word. 

3472 
The sweet breath of the violet telleth me of its 
divinity. 

3473 
He that aspires must rise. He that aspires not must 
fall. 

3474 
The sincerity and purity of your soul establish your 
place in life. 

3475 
Annihilate hate with love. 

3476 
The literature of your own time is more needful to 
thee than the literature of a past age. If thou canst 
have but one, take the present and forego that of 
past generations. 

3477 
If thou hast not enough love for all of God's creatures 
thou art lacking. 



375 



3478 

If thy soul shine thou hast light to see thy way. 

3479 

Jealousy confines its attacks to superiority. 

3480 

He that breaketh a law but mars his life. 

3481 

No thought is profane that makes for truth. 

3482 

The thing that best pleases thee, occasionally do 
without. It is discipline that overcomes disappoint- 
ment and trains the will, and the having or not having 
will be non-essential. 

3483 

Lay not so much stress on your nearness to God as 
on your kinship. 

3484 

Behind the shadows of life stands radiant love. 

3485 
All men are immersed in God's fountain of life to be 
cleansed. 

3486 
If we would image heaven instead of hell we would 
escape the latter. 

3487 

Freedom is the right to think and the right to express 
thought. 

3488 

I am traveling toward God with joy and thanks- 
giving. 

3489 

Tenderness is a hero's prompter. 

3490 

To be secretive is not always wiser than to be com- 
municative. 



376 



3491 
^^'^O not try to live your friend's life : live your own, 
\t W however much you be persuaded to ape another, 
^^^ and free it from evil in your own way and 
according to the light that shines within your own 
soul. This gives you strength and your light increaseth. 

3492 
New glimpses of truth are every whit as precious as 
ancient visions, and yet moderns are too prone to 
venerate the old and repudiate the new. 

3493 
The force of a word is not so much in itself as in the 
speaker, and every utterer of the same carryeth a 
difference of meaning. 

3494 

Let me but gain one clean, clear thought a day and I 
must grow rich. 

3495 
Nothing keeps me from holiness but ignorance, 
whether I be Pagan or Christian. 

3496 

Strange it is that men look for God ahead of them and 
behind them and seldom beside them. 

3497 
If thou livest truly, thou livest ideally. If thou livest 
falsely, thou livest meanly. Thy soul knoweth that 
this is true. 

3498 
A fair and promising day may end in a night of woe. 
Therefore boast not and be kind. 

3499 
Small lids will not cover large caldrons. Remember 
this, O ye priests, when the truth begins to bubble. 

3500 

The fool's experience is the wise man's lesson. 



377 



3501 

God's only crown is Love, and so crowns He all men 
if they will. 

3502 
Give me truth if it banish every creed that is or ever 
has been. 

3503 
Manifold blessings follow the just and the unjust. 
God loveth all men, but if man loveth not so much 
himself as to be worthy his blessings they are as a 
curse to him. 

3504 
Simplicity carries the key of true art. 

3505 
That no evil thought enter, write over the door of 
thy heart, " Be thou pure." 

3506 
A big head may be an empty one. 

3507 
Experience is of no value if forgotten. 

3508 
If God be love preach no longer hell. 

3509 
When one smites thy heart-strings with discord turn 
away. 

3510 
Keen humor is the whetstone of clever debate. 

3511 
The more said about freedom the better will men 
understand that it is not solely the following of 
personal inclination but the study of the collective 
good. 

3512 
Great minds love simplicity as much as small minds 
love ado. 



378 



3513 
Shout your diseases, if you must, but not in company. 

3514 
Though men are quickest moved to anger by trifles, 
so are they moved to tears. 

3515 
Youth rushes not to destruction with more alacrity 
than maturity. 

3516 
We shall have peace when we have universal under- 
standing. 

3517 
It is easy to die, because we know not how to live ; 
but by living is not meant breathing. 

3518 
Unbidden thoughts like wild flowers leap from the 
soil without our help. 

3519 

If thou hast occupied the guest-chamber, go not forth 
with a flapping tongue to greet the curious. 

3520 

The musician is a painter, and to the mind is revealed 
the tone picture. 

3521 

Refinement is a jewel worn by the rich and the poor, 
the high and the low, the lettered and the unlettered, 
and yet it is not so common as to be undervalued. 

3522 

Look not upon evil things with an evil thought. 

3523 

The sweetness of life depends as much upon the view- 
point as upon environment. 

3524 

No man loves misery, and yet he ofttimes seeks it 
eagerly. 



379 



3525 
Little heed should be given a falsehood and it will 
vanish, but with notice it will persecute thee by day 
and affright thee by night. 

3526 
Not a man upon earth expects to lose his soul, and he 
is wise in so thinking ; but what he may suffer through 
wrong living may make him desire annihilation before 
he is cleansed of his infirmities. 

3527 
Look not in thy neighbor's mind for filth nor yet in 
thine own ; look only for cleanly thoughts and thou 
wilt surely find them. 

3528 
The pride of the rich and the pride of the poor vary 
neither in quality nor in degree when it rests on prin- 
ciple ; but vanity may have a thousand quirks in a 
thousand people. 

3529 
If criminals were as fearless to do right as to do wrong 
greatness would be theirs. 

3530 

The lesson of the flowers is that they do the best they 
can. 

3531 

Ingratitude beclouds the mind. 

3532 
When a man looks through the windows of his soul 
he seeth things in a new light. 

3533 
Beware of the idle : they will rob thee of time. 

3534 
Repine not ; there is more to gain than thou hast lost. 

3535 
Purity become th both man and woman, the one not 
more than the other when the sight is perfect. 



380 



3536 
^Y running brooks and shady nooks and in the 
majestic forest is the sacred stillness marred by 
profanity and vulgarity of speech where it 
would seem as if no thought save that of reverence 
and admiration could be admitted to man's company. 



© 



3537 
It is not difficult to attach meanings to ancient 
figures of speech, but it is most difficult to attach the 
original one. 

3538 
Many advocate honesty, but by their lives ye shall 
know them whether they speak from conviction or 
deception. 

3539 
It is no longer necessary to hide truth in riddles. It 
can be spoken without deluging the land with blood, 
and we thank thee, O God, and men. 

3540 
When thoughtlessness wounds to the quick, deep 
love murmurs not. 

3541 
When the candle burns low in the socket of this life 
one is being lighted in the next. 

3542 
How often is the unattainable sneered at by 
inferiority ! 

3543 
See thyself not as thou art, but without blemish, as 
this will tend to beautify. 

3544 
Science is plain and exact. It says what it means and 
means what it says, but theology delights in confusion 
of tongues. 

3545 
It were foolish to say that this planet hath received 
more of truth than another. 



381 



3546 
^PV\HOU canst not entertain an ideal too lofty to 
I) attain in time, and when that which thou 
^^^ comprehendest today has been reached thou 
canst see a loftier to which thou canst climb with 
greater ease tomorrow, and on through the eons of 
time this will be thy joyful task. 

3547 
Heaven is so small it can be found within itself. 

3548 

He who hath ears to hear does hear. 

3549 
Mysticism is not for this age, and the least use made 
of it the swifter will be the mark toward mental 
freedom. 

3550 
Plead not poverty in extenuation of wrongdoing. 
The rich are as great rascals as the poor. It is a lack 
of commonsense that makes rogues. 

3551 
Why lead thyself downward if thou desirest either 
love or respect? 

3552 
Simplicity is the need of the hour ; complexity an evil 
of society. 

3553 
The laborer bemoans the situation that he maketh 
for himself through his ignorance. 

3554 
If you would have the world free from mummery, 
repeat the old thought less and give the new more 
consideration. 

3555 
Because a superstition is venerable, is that a reason 
it is desirable? Do you admire senility more than 
perspicuity ? 



382 



3556 
^^i^^HE finding of a life companion should be the 
4^) most serious occupation of young men and 
.^^^ maidens, whereas too much is left to chance 
and mammon, therefore the matrimonial yoke is 
galling when two odd creatures pull two ways. 

3557 
Blessed is the peacemaker except when principle is 
sacrificed to gain it. 

3558 
Ethics are not veiled in mysticism. 'T is superstition 
that needs concealing. 

3559 
In fulness of tim.e the earth is prepared for fulness 
of thought. 

3560 
Spite can not escape its own blow : though aimed at 
another, it wounds itself. 

3561 

Pay your debts and escape wrath, for as surely as a 
man liveth he must be honest or suffer. 

3562 
'T is in vain that we plead for wisdom if we do not 
seek it. 

3563 
Verily, saith wisdom, ignorance is a weakling, not 
knowing how to care for itself. 

5364 

Ninety -nine times, if need be, refuse an invitation to 
debauch thyself, and the hundredth invitation will 
not be so bold of approach. 

3565 

Lament not over the dead : they have taken a step 
in progression. 

3566 
Give praise for every chastisement if it increaseth thy 
understanding. 



383 



3567 
Intelligence cares less for display than ignorance. 

3568 
There is a difference between stubborness and firm- 
ness not always perceived. 

3569 
Man must work hard for science, but religions are for 
the asking. 

3570 
Nature does not rob her children of her possessions ; 
they rob one another. 

3571 
Everywhere there are evidences of life which declare 
there is no death. 

3572 
One can do right and not act at all like one's teacher. 




384 



BOOK FIFTEEN 




3573 
hand of evolution is writing 
in letters of fire on the mountain- 
sides ; in their craters are held the 
lives of countless men and women 
who pray in vain for a few more 
days upon earth ere they are 
licked up and cast out. We must 

reason that all is well and that 

which seemeth a tragedy is Divine law working in a 
world of blind folk. 

3574 
If God is no respector of persons He loves the sinner 
as well as He loves the righteous. The love is lacking 
on man's side. 

3575 
A touch of sorrow makes thee more loved. 

3576 
In natural history who ever heard of a wise snake, 
and why should the serpent be continued as the 
symbol of wisdom in these days of understanding? 

3577 
Regret not, but be forewarned. 



3578 



The fealty of the few holds the many true. 



3579 



The extreme of vulgarity is unkindness, which is one 
of the many names of ignorance. 



3580 



Away with all desire that would lower. 



3581 



Control circumstances to control destiny. 



3582 



Go not about with lines of despondency writ on thy 
face to becloud hope, which is the great life-giver. 



387 



3583 

XF men would build their characters with as 
much forethought and care as they build their 
dwelling-houses, the general average of mankind 
would be raised to the point where wrongdoers would 
be too conspicuous to be comfortable. 

3584 
Ye men and women of earth, 't is time ye sang with 
a loud voice of cleanliness of mind and purity of body. 

3585 
In vain would I seek of men their religion, did I wish 
to acquaint myself with their true natures. 

3586 
Life is so wondrous and so beautiful, pity 't is that 
more do not enjoy it instead of wasting it. 

3587 
Pure reason must be God's torch, the light of which 
man hath not yet seen. 

3588 
Today religion must square with science or it is bound 
to pass away. 

3589 
Harmony is thine if thou canst find it on the key- 
board of life. 

3590 
Listen to a story long when it hath a pleasing song ; 
but when falls a word of spite, then the tale thy mind 
will blight. 

3591 
No one should care what becomes of opinions, but 
every one should care what becomes of truth. 

3592 
Reason and intuition — the light of the world. 

3593 

Finally, brethren, cease to argue about your creeds and 
mend you your ways. 



388 



3594 
y^i/HE romantic ideas of youth are realized where 
^ J men and women grow spiritual with increase of 
^^^ years. To remain young the spirit must ani- 
mate the life and the body be in subjection to it. 
Satiety is then unknown. 

3595 
When thou seest only the good in another thou art 
seeing God. 

3596 
Work, thou sluggard ; work, thou prince, or evil will 
overtake and devour thee. 

3597 
A clean mind is like a lamp in a dark place. 

3598 
When thou hast learned a lesson in the morning of the 
day write it in the evening thereof. If thou hast no 
longer need of it the world may have. 

3599 

The fruit of life is gathered at its close. 

3600 

A rich man is a pauper unless he possesses knowledge. 
Gold and silver he must leave, but knowledge is his 
forever. 

3601 

Honesty is commonsense and common decency. 

3602 

Liberty is for the patriot. The traitor knows neither 
its value nor its use. 

3603 
Danger lurketh in the darkness of ignorance. 

3604 
Sincerity dwells in the light of truth. 

3605 
Adversity is assisted by the staff of patience. 



389 



3606 

nIGH up in a tree swings a little bird. Low down 
on the ground stands a man with a gun. Would 
it not seem that the man should be content 
with his superiority without killing the little songster? 

3607 
Ingratitude is a coiled serpent that would bury its 
fangs in any philanthropist that crosses its way. 

3608 

Dishonesty is the freak of a madman and the part of 
a fool. It slayeth justice and raiseth its hand against 
its own life. 

3609 

Good conduct is supported by good companions. 

3610 

Love lingereth long where hatred entereth not. 

3611 

Hatred is like a bad tenant. It ruins the house wherein 
it lives. 

3612 

Jealousy, like a bleating sheep, disturbs the quiet of 
the whole flock. 

3613 
Power is the rightful possession of him who knows 
how to use it. 

3614 
A tattler is like a cackling hen — everybody knows 
when an egg is laid. 

3615 
Evil minds are quick to detect flaws. 

3616 

A vicious tongue is a moral nuisance, and a meddler 
a public offense. 

3617 
A gracious manner is a cooling shade on the scorching 
plains of argument. 



390 



3618 

An empty mind is like an empty bam. The wind 
blows through the cracks and thought starves at the 
manger. 

3619 

Righteous anger is the twin brother of hatred howbeit 
one may deny the relationship. 

3620 
Egotism, like a barren fig-tree, spreads itself uncom- 
monly. 

3621 
He absolutely fails who forgets his neighbor in 
exalting himself. 

3622 

The head and heart of the miser wherein he crowds 
his gold has no room for the treasures of heaven. 

3623 

Indolence hath no part in the rewards of merit. 

3624 

Justice is the problem of the universe, and wise will 
he be who solves it. 

3625 
Activity is the life of the spirit. 

3626 

Greatness when thrust upon small men makes their 
defects more apparent than their virtues. 

3627 
Refinement is a sensitive plant that thrives best in its 
native soil. 

3628 

Progress is the journey of the soul. 

3629 
Poverty, though the companion of want, need not 
consort with vice. 

3630 

Riches should not forget that poverty was its ancestor. 



391 



3631 

Gratitude is an oasis on the Sahara of existence. 

3632 
Avarice is akin to dishonesty. 

3633 
A degrading thought is the open door to sin. 

3634 

Refinement and vulgarity are odious to each other 
and refuse to be neighborly. 

3635 

Happy is he who is sufficiently respectful to deal 
honorably with himself, and thrice happy he who 
dwells in purity and cleanliness. 

3636 

Hope is the anchor that keeps the ship from stranding 
on the sands of despair. 

3637 

Ambition is the bud and success the blossom. 

3638 

Hypocrisy is the knave's part in both the comedies 
and tragedies of life. 

3639 

Obedience is wise when demanded by virtue. 

3640 

Egotism, like a vain bird, exhibits its plumage with 
conspicuous pleasure. 

3641 

Contention is the fool's part in the domestic drama. 

3642 

Humility is a virtue only when it concedes to wisdom. 

3643 
The uncomplaint of those who in the exercise of their 
benevolence are trespassed upon is fortitude. 



392 



3644 
Antagonism is jubilant when two minds move in 
opposite directions. 

3645 
Ferocity is the result of much snarling. 

3646 
When the heavenly dew of sympathy falls upon 
adversity it revives like a drooping plant. 

3647 
Constancy is a crown jewel of wedlock and forbearance 
its golden setting. 

3648 

Where there is godliness, there is work. 

3649 

When there is love, passion speedily leaves. Thus its 
presence is of short duration and its departure a 
blessing. 

3650 
Pure is music until defiled by words. 

3651 
Let the soul teach the body and let the body obey the 
soul. 

3652 

Contentment is the result of much thought or of none. 

3653 

When there is wisdom foolishness hath no room. 

3654 

Anger is the play of imbecility and altogether unbe- 
coming intelligence. 

3655 
Honor is the applause of conscience. 

3656 

Be wise in time to save the humiliation of a fall. 

3657 

Innocence is despoiled by the cunning of covetousness. 



393 



3658 

Slothfulness is the king of poverty, and want and misery 
its abject subjects. 

3659 
Hold a candle to your own thoughts every time you 
examine another's. 

3660 

When there is a high thought a baser is not easily 
entertained. 

3661 

Patience is the part of a philosopher. 

3662 
Charity consisteth not so much in the giving of alms 
as of love and sympathy. 

3663 

Distinguished is he that walketh with a clean mind. 

3664 

Strength comes with calmness, languor with confusion. 

3665 
A soul is like a seed — its growth depends on its soil. 

3666 

A beautiful mind is the blossom of love, and a blasted 
life the product of lust. 

3667 
Broken promises are shipwrecks on life's ocean. 

3668 

Impertinence is the delight of inferiority. 

3669 

Despair is the outcome of impurity. 

3670 
He who lighteth his own torch and goeth forth 
stumbleth less than he who gropes without light 
amongst the creeds and dogmas that have been left 
in the way. 



394 



3671 
Somewhere in the inner mind of man there is a thought 
receptacle. Open it often and if thou perceives t a 
truth press it to thy lips until they proclaim it. 

3672 
A revelation cometh to him who asks. 

3673 
Wear on thy bosom the white flower of immortality. 

3674 

Desire is the hidden prompter of both good and evil. 

3675 
Loquacity is an art to conceal ignorance. 

3676 
If a noble act brings its own reward, a brutal act 
brings its own punishment. 

3677 
Conceit is a heavy burden to carry up the hill of life, 

3678 
Utility is the handmaiden of the provident. 

3679 
Wastefulness is the servant of want. 

3680 

Vanity is the footman that admits extravagance. 

3681 

Sobriety bears a message for all. 

3682 
A merry tune shorteneth the hours and maketh the 
feet to dance, but a dirge maketh slow the step and 
covereth the green earth with a pall. So with a witty 
tongue and a tale of woe. 

3683 
Contemplation is the handbook of eternity. 



395 



3684 
Procrastination is a bold robber attacking all people. 

3685 

Scorn is begotten of neglect. 

3686 
Harmony is the sounding of two or more notes that 
accord, and this is as true of the mental as of the 
musical scale. 

3687 
The chicken hatched in your neighbor's yard is of 
less profit to you than the one hatched within your 
own enclosure. Therefore, it is wiser to set your own 
hen than to regard your neighbor's luck. 

3688 

Whoso thirsteth for knowledge may drink at the 
spring of truth, the source of the great river of science. 

3689 

All beautiful objects are a feast to the eye and a joy 
to the beholder ; but beauty that depends on external 
expression is only veneer, the interior being of common 
stuff. 

3690 
Sorrow is the follower of rashness. 

3691 

Quality of mind is like quality of cloth — the stronger 
it is the better it wears. 

3692 

True heroism is the sacrifice for the welfare of others. 

3693 

A brave man is he who risks reputation in defense 
of an unpopular cause, and a hero is he who falls in^ 
the ranks of truth. ' 

3694 

He who loves justice loves God and his neighbor as 
himself. 



396 



3695 
A prudent man neither agrees with a fool nor strives 
to convince a maniac. 

3696 
Priestcraft is of the earth earthy, for the aspirations 
of man can not be held within a creed, neither can the 
whole truth be contained in a volume. 

3697 
A beautiful thought is a fragment of divinity. 

3698 

Felicity is the inheritance of virtue. 

3699 
Indulgence in wrongdoing is piling high the fagots 
with which to burn the body. 

3700 
A creed is a strong jailer that locks the mind in a 
dungeon. 

3701 
Nature loves those children most who best obey her. 

3702 
Violent opposition creates hostility, but mild persua- 
sion overcome th much. 

3703 
A wise father tempereth his words to the offense, and 
the son heareth ; but anger driveth away reason and 
blindeth the son, who goeth forth to lose his way. 

3704 
What shall be said of a man who loveth strong drink 
more than dignity and burieth his head in the dust 
like the silly ostrich ! 

3705 
Egotism, like a clam in the mud, exposes itself by 
protruding its little head. 

3706 
Lasting beauty is the outgrowth of wisdom. 



397 



3707 
^w^HAT a beautiful world this would be in which 
r ly to live were every man as mindful of his own 
^^ as of his brother's offenses ! What a delightful 
habitation every house were the occupants tuned to 
the same pitch ! 

3708 
A fool goeth forth to kill, but a prudent man sitteth 
within his conscience. 

3709 
Whoso loveth hath God within ; whoso hateth tumeth 
God out. 

3710 
Indifferent becomes he who constantly hears the voice 
of complaint. 

3711 
To the novice a forbidden pleasure presents more 
gilding than an offered duty, but the connoisseur is 
not deceived. 

3712 
Vengeance is the cruel lash of the tyrant. 

3713 
Obedience to a principle is obedience to God within. 

3714 
Labor, both mental and physical, is the straightest 
road to health and happiness. 

3715 
Ecstacy is the overflow of the soul. 

3716 
Necessity is the plebeian ancestor of ambition. 

3717 
Slights are never given by those who possess some- 
thing better to offer. 

3718 
He who lives in the din of discord can not hear the 
whisperings of the soul. 



398 



3719 
How truly great is he who loveth truth more than 
riches. 

3720 
He that preferreth a clean hand to a fat purse is beloved 
of God. 

3721 
He that lingereth in sin lingereth in sorrow. 

3722 

Kindness is the keynote of charity. 

3723 

Humor is the leaven that maketh light the dough of 
life. 

3724 

Despondency chains the mind to an iron ring in the 
wall of despair. 

3725 
Mirth plays with the sunbeams of life. 

3726 

In the morning and the evening of life man draws 
very near to God ; but in the midday He is oft forgot. 

3727 
Thoughtfulness of others is a beautiful walk along 
the bypaths of heaven, where the flowers bloom and 
overhang the way and whose fragrance is everlasting. 

3728 

The imagery of the mind is a flashlight of hidden 
realities. 

3729 
Memory is the gift of the ages. 

3730 
Nature loves most the inquisitive student, and to 
him will she reveal her secret thoughts and intents. 
He may question her at any time, for she is always in 
humor to answer. 



399 



3731 

QRIDE of birth and pride of station have no 
stronger foundation than tradition ; but he 
whose pride raises him above meanness has 
a foundation that the rich and the poor might envy 
and that neither time nor eternity can weaken. 

3732 
Sublimity surrounds deity in the mind of him who 
contemplates the majesty of the rolling worlds of 
space. 

3733 
He who raises the curtain of futurity and looks with 
natural vision, beholds heaven as a fair land where 
each soul is accorded justice and obtains that employ- 
ment for which he has special aptitude. 

3734 
Adoration of truth is adoration of God. 

3735 
Courage is needed in all walks of life, but particularly 
is it required when the pocketbook is depleted and 
the public comment on the fact. 

3736 
An evil thought is a low companion. 

3737 
Fidelity is the companion of truth. 

3738 
A shallow mind is, like a shallow pool, easily fathomed. 

3739 
A bright intellect illumines its surroundings. 

3740 
A wicked saint is an anomaly sometimes found 
within the shades of ecclesiasticism. 

3741 
Tolerance and benevolence, the logos of true religion. 



400 



3742 
The latitude and longitude of earth's voyage are 
marked on the chart of human experience. 

3743 
Indecision invites defeat. 

3744 
Little by little we learn the commands of God which 
are transcribed on the tablets of Nature. 

3745 
Profane is the thought that pictures a personal God 
in the image of man. 

3746 
Mathematics draws the mind into the vast spaces^ 
where it wanders and wanders and is lost. 

3747 
Independence of thought is a tonic for the intellect. 

3748 
Cultivate thy will and thereby strengthen thy morals. 

3749 
He who evades justice by hiding behind a feeble 
technicality is unworthy the generous gift of franchise. 

3750 
Labor is not degrading to the soul, but where there is 
false pride it inflicts severe punishment. 

3751 
Integrity is a portion of the very Godhead, and he 
who betrays a trust defrauds the Most High. 

3752 
Friendship is slow to rebuke, but swift to defend. 

3753 
He who is most liberal with advice most despises it. 

3754 
Remorse is the night of a wasted day. 



401 



3755 
Mathematics endeavors to measure space, but no 
line of figures can approach the Infinite. 

3756 
Indulgence in evil fosters habits that usurp the king- 
dom of heaven within. 

3757 
Each one who asks the way to happiness is given a 
different direction by the world, therefore there is 
safety only in following the guide-post of duty. 

3758 
Religion and society run a neck-and-neck race for 
first place. 

3759 
Drollery is the spice of homely fare. 

3760 
Gigantic feet can be encased in infant shoes with less 
difficulty than gigantic minds can wear the swaddling- 
clothes of superstition. 

3761 
A stainless life is a patent of nobility worn by few. 

3762 
Give us this day our daily bread, saith the suppliant 
man. I will earn my daily bread, saith the just man. 




402 



BOOK SIXTEEN 




3763 
HY life is thine own only inas- 
much as thou canst live it with- 
out the aid of another. Verily 
this is an impossibility, from the 
straw upon thy head to the 
leather under thy feet, from the 
printed page to the spoken word. 
Thou art a sharer of each and 
every one who contributes to thy well-being. There- 
fore thy life belongs to the whole ; all men are partners 
in the fulness of the earth. 

3764 
Fear loss of social position that is maintained by 
dishonor — the fall is great. Honor is the only safe 
foundation upon which to rest confidently. 

3765 
Be thankful for the diversity of religions. The many 
permit growth. 

3766 
The lighthouses on the rocks of time are the facts of 
science. 

3767 
All honor be to him who unearths a truth. 

3768 
From the phoenix of intolerance arises cruelty. 

3769 

Regret is the shadow of yesterday. 

3770 
As a woodsman blazes the trees to mark his way, so 
does a man of science mark the way for those who 
follow. 

3771 
A betrayer is a thief who robs the innocent. 

3772 
A generous man is a doer of the Lord's work. 



405 



3773 
^^^HINKEST thou that art stands aloof? Nay, it 
^ J Cometh as close to every-day life as mortal will 
^^^ permit. It is the chiseled marble or the bloom- 
ing plant in the broken window-pane. It is beauty 
expressed in ten thousand ways. It is a touch of God's 
finger on things mundane. 

3774 
A profound thinker labors more for others than for 
self, as the many have the benefit of his toil and are 
not asked to share the fatigue. 

3775 
A rounded-out day is a link in the chain of existence, 
and many links make the years that carry us onward 
toward perfection. 

3776 
Frequently a nimble foot serves better than a nimble 
tongue, as the former can run from the latter when 
occasion requires. 

3777 
Liberty sits contentedly in the easy chair of inde- 
pendence. 

3778 
Authority in the hands of ignorance is the avalanche 
that buries the people. 

3779 
Happiness dependent solely on external things is 
doomed to chilling rebuffs and bitter hours. 

3780 
Loneliness is the moment of parting with virtue. 

3781 
Both the rich and the poor rub on the washboard of 
experience. 

3782 
We must not invite trouble unless willing to entertain 
it, as the most informal invitation is always promptly 
accepted. 



406 



3783 
/^ELF-CONTROL is the citadel of the soul 
^iKjl wherein is seated the Great King I upon the 
^^"^^ throne of dignity. When the monarch is dis- 
turbed, his little kingdom quakes and is threatened 
with destruction. When he reigns supreme, his life is 
an idyl of serenity. 

3784 
Faultfinding is the creaking hinge of the domestic 
door. 

3785 

Perversity is the law of fools. 

3786 
Much ado about religion is worse than no religion. 

3787 
A fop boasts close acquaintance with the tailor's 
goose. 

3788 
A lack of tact is a lack of an essential ingredient of 
fashionable society, and woe is he who has it not, 
desire he to become a leading actor in the amusing 
farce. 

3789 
A libertine is a destroyer of God's frailest buds, and 
there is naught but destruction in his path. 

^" 3790 

A fortune is gained by him who waits for the fickle 

jade to smile, and is as quickly lost when she frowns. 

3791 
There is danger that an overabundance of worldly 
wealth makes the soul a dry place and the heart be- 
comes hardened in the burning heat of selfishness. 

3792 
When the sun rises in the North and sets in the South, 
then may a gilded fool be called a sage and a liberal 
cheat an honest man. 



407 



3793 

A good name is frequently worn over a corrupt heart. 

3794 
The bad, oftener than the good, desire authority. 

3795 
A clear conscience shines through the face of him 
who perceiveth his duty and doeth it. 

3796 
He who repines runs backward. 

3797 
Bigotry and ecclesiasticism are churchyard play- 
fellows. 

3798 
The ancestry of thoughts can be traced as the 
ancestry of men. 

3799 
A good reputation can not be gained by bad practises. 

3800 
Nothing so mars beauty as the reflection of vanity. 

3801 

A sweet temper is like the fragrance of a June mom ; 
an ugly temper a chill November blast. 

3802 

Each lily of the field is clothed with a beauty of its 
own, and so is each soul that God attends. 

3803 

Policy is the stepping-stone to popularity, and popu- 
larity is the steed that wins the political race. 

3804 

Gallantry seeks attention and finds it quickly. 

3805 
Avarice is an ugly weed, and where it thrives best 
naught else will grow. 



408 



3806 

Observation is the headlight of youth and age. 

3807 
Cupid assumes various disguises when he roams 
amongst the fair; but when he seeks a bride he 
invariably dons the armor of a Knight of Honor. 

3808 
A hint is a pin-thrust which leaves a sting. 

3809 

A keen sword maketh a deep wound ; so doth a sharp 
word lacerate love. 

3810 

What more comely than age adorned with wisdom, 
and what more gladsome than youth gathering the 
fruits of knowledge ? 

3811 

A cobbler can patch a shoe, but he can not mend a 
broken foot. A priest may patch grief, but he can not 
mend a broken heart. 

3812 
When a soul is encased in the steel of selfishness, how 
can it grow? 

3813 

Be ashamed of idleness ; it bespeaks thee ignorant of 
the intent of life. 

3814 

The rich and the poor race on parallel tracks, and 
death is the prize of the winner. 

3815 
That forethought is preferable to afterthought can 
not too often be writ. 

3816 

The face of Divinity is concealed behind the veil of 
Nature, and whosoever raiseth it beholds loveliness, 
wisdom and eternal youth. 

3817 
Where justice leaves off, generosity may begin. 



409 



3818 
While perverseness is barring the door against reason, 
danger crawls in at the window. 

3819 
Fatigue is the ready companion of labor whenever 
labor strays from love. 

3820 

A knowledge of the minute things of life prepares one 
for the great facts of eternity. 

3821 

Dissipation is the idiotic pastime of simpletons. 

3822 

Where there is moral weakness, there is not power. 

3823 

Failure may not be attributed more to circumstances 
than to inclination. 

3824 

Intellect is the product of toil, and the increase belongs 
to the toiler. 

3825 
Undiluted frankness is not commendable in social 
intercourse if one craves popularity. 

3826 

The human face is homely only when allied with 
a repulsive character. 

3827 
Application is the lower rung of the ladder of fame. 

3828 
A spendthrift invariably stands with his back to the 
future. 

3829 

One can forgive the candor of a friend, but not so 
readily that of an enemy. 

3830 
Silence is the soliloquy of him who walks unattended 
through the garden of thought. 



410 



3831 

Unseen is the hand that engraves the memory. 

3832 

From the womb of tolerance leaps progress. 

3833 

A brawler is like a swollen stream, ever and anon 
leaping its banks and doing some damage. 

3834 

Cruelty is an instrument of torture in the hands of sin. 

3835 

Though intemperance affect pleasantry it can not 
disguise its ugly character. 

3836 

Death is the long-expected guest who is received with 
tears by all but one. 

3837 
An unreasoning mind, like a contrary animal, invites 
the lash of discipline. 

3838 

The destiny of man is written by the finger of evolu- 
tion on the wall of time. 

3839 
The sowing of intellectual seed in the springtime of 
life brings forth a bountiful harvest ere the Autumn. 

3840 
If law-makers and pill-makers could be compelled to 
take more of their own medicine and give less of it, 
the public health might be better conserved. 

3841 

When riches and penury are introduced by calamity, 
rank is abashed and equality established. 

3842 
The infantile mind delights in homage, but wisdom 
little concerns with forms and ceremonies. 



411 



3843 

Hand in hand, Crime and his spouse, Stealth, roam 
the world, wherever their wicked fancy leads. 

3844 

Tradition is a more potent factor than reason, in 
determining men's religion. 

3845 
Gravity is amusing when capering with sin. 

3846 

Alas ! too often the offspring of lust and contention 
fill the comers of the house to make it a haven of rest 
and a place of safety. 

3847 

A shrewd man is he who carries a high head when 
accompanied by a lean purse. 

3848 

The plebeian and the aristocrat are both products of 
the human garden, and when treated with like care 
bear similar quantity and quality of fruit. 

3849 
Ambiguity may be entertaining for an evening, but 
a week of it would be prevarication and a twelve- 
month an abominable falsehood. 

3850 
Love is the fountain whereat all people slake their 
thirst. 

3851 
Never was man too poor to give a smile and a kind 
word, and never was man too rich to accept them. 

3852 

Fear is the dragon of night that slays the peace of day. 

3853 

Happiness depends not so much on another as on one's 
self. 



412 



3854 
Willing hands find no rest in idleness ; unwilling hands 
no joy in usefulness. 

3855 
The distance is long from selfishness to generosity, 
but it has been traversed by many and the way found 
delightful. 

3856 
Passing through life to the many is like passing 
through a darkened room: to the few, like passing 
through an illumined chamber where everything is 
shown in beauty and defect. 

3857 
Seek not recompense. Seek principles, and recompense 
will follow. 

3858 
Hunger makes savage, and savages hunger for destruc- 
tion. 

3859 
The test of truth is time. 

3860 
Silently as falleth a star in the heavens falleth thought 
from above. 

3861 
Fill thou my heart with gratitude and my soul with 
thanksgiving for the joy of living. 

3862 
Vanity is a weak staff for a rough road. 

3863 
Give thyself no rest until thou hast found thy work ; 
and when thou hast found it, labor diligently, not for 
thyself alone, but for the great world in which thou 
art cast. 

3864 
Let us not become sullen nor abusive when our notions 
are controverted by facts ; rather let us rejoice that 
our errors are rectified. 



413 



3865 
Let no man say he knows God, lest he be accused of 
bragging falsely. Let him say rather that the desire 
of his heart is to know the divine will and to conform 
to it. 

3866 
True happiness is the joy of unselfishness. 

3867 
Bear thy name proudly and be not ashamed of honest 
toil. 

3868 
Sweet as the carols of the lark on high are the 
cadences of inspiration that fall on the spirit ear. 

3869 

Contentment goes wherever it is invited. 

3870 
Think not that the size of a house and the quality of 
its furnishings are an indication of the size and quality 
of the mind of the inhabitant. 

3871 
In matters pertaining to public good, delay is less 
dangerous than haste. 

3872 
A feeble mind leans on another's opinion. A strong 
mind leans on its own. 

3873 

, Alas ! how unfortunate they who are encased within 

the steel cells of vanity and fashion, deprived of the 

society of the thinking world and forced to eat of the 

bread and water of idleness and folly. 

3874 
The cry of oppression reaches not the ear of selfishness, 

3875 
A mighty man of valor is he who begirds himself with 
wisdom and rescues lovely Peace from the clutches 
of War. 



414 



3876 
^w^HEN the philosopher dons his diving- suit to 
TMj explore the bottom of the sea of motives, what 
^*^^ curious things he finds and what horrid mon- 
sters he brings to the surface for the prying eyes of 
the world to examine. 

3877 
Those who are immured in ignorance think naught of 
the needs of the world. 

3878 
The gold ear of usury heareth not the plaintive voice 
of penury. 

3879 
He is more clever who knows when to speak and not 
how than he who knows how to speak and not when. 

3880 
Judaism consoles the Jew. Christianity consoles the 
Christian, but the truth alone consoles the man whose 
love of God exceeds his love of sect. 

3881 

Diligence frequently distances genius in the long race 
for honor. 

3882 

Who will say it is more cruel to bind the foot than the 
mind! 

3883 
To know a man you must see him when it rains and 
when it shines, when it blows and in the calm. 

3884 

If we stand in the line of progress ourselves we are 
surer of holding our place than when we hire a sub- 
stitute. 

3885 
If thou desirest laudation, laugh with thine enemy and 
also mourn with him as with a friend : though thy 
friend may expect more than he gets, thy enemy gets 
more than he expects. 



415 




3886 
RED coat excites a strutting gobbler and a 
spreading tail displays the vanity of the pea- 
cock, but the cow gives as much milk and the 
dairymaid makes as much butter and cheese as 
though the turkeys and the peafowl were tranquil. 
Vanity disturbs little but itself. 

3887 
The white lily of truth blooms eternal in the divine 
mind. 

3888 
There are as many ideas of luxury as there are minds 
to seek it, but he enjoys most who knows most. 

3889 
Hunger often makes a poor man steal, but as fre- 
quently a rich man steals for very love of plundering 
tJie honest folk who trust him. 

3890 

They who look from the housetops of intelligence can 
better observe the needs of humanity than they who 
grope in cellars. 

3891 
Get a little money if thou must and a little sense if 
thou canst, but at all hazards get the sense first and 
the money will abide longer with thee. 

3892 
Love of duty makes swift action a pleasure. 

3893 
Subtleness more than frankness is inclined to impugn 
good motives. 

3894 
Consanguinity is made an excuse for rudeness that 
would otherwise be unpardonable. 

3895 
The humiliation of defeat lies deepest in the heart 
of him who has more vanity than valor. 



416 




3896 
BIG thief gathers the treasures of others and 
holds them in his wicked grasp. A little thief 
gathers trash. They differ only in their 
capacity to seize and to hold. The little thief is scorned 
for his misdemeanor, whilst perchance the big thief is 
honored and envied for his boldness and success. 

3897 
Longevity is only desirable when one has much work 
to perform. 

3898 
Affection is well in the right place, and the right place 
is everywhere that men, women and children are 
domiciled. 

3899 
In morning life agriculture leads in the quiet fields of 
Nature, and in the twilight invites its votaries to 
walk in the peaceful groves of contentment. 

3900 
Atavism watching for an open door passes in unnoticed 
and surprises the careless family. 

3901 
He that rebuketh without cause is in danger of 
contempt. 

3902 
He that slanders a neighbor will betray his own 
household should ill-nature suggest. 

3903 
A great nation loves a greater people, and a great 
people love a greater nation. 

3904 
Alcohol prefers to reach its destination in a hurry. 

3905 
Wheresoever the mind of man tendeth, there abideth 
the man. 



417 



3906 

EASHIONABLE society never laughs at itself, 
but those who look between the cracks and 
through the knot-holes of the high board fence 
that surrounds it laugh merrily at the capers and 
grimaces of the performing company within the 
enclosure. 

3907 
Beware of him who is swift to condone thy faults. 
Mayhap they are his own. 

3908 
See to it that thy neighbor returns that which he 
borrows, otherwise thou makest of him a receiver of 
alms. 

3909 

When stupidity prattles of itself humor raises a 
protecting hand to save it from violence. 

3910 

Lean not on another, lest thou grow lopsided. 

3911 
Muzzle thy temper and chain it to its kennel as thou 
wouldst secure a ferocious dog. 

3912 

The condolence of a friend is acceptable, but the 
condolence of a stranger as often wounds as comforts. 

3913 
Milk and water nourishes a babe, but is weak food for 
a man. So is it with diluted logic for a grown mind. 

3914 
Energy springs into immediate action, but sloth will 
sit all day looking on. 

3915 
The problem of finance is the problem of the world. 
It has never been solved nor will it ever be though all 
nations and all peoples will never cease to try. 



418 



3916 
^^vjHE lower kingdom of Nature more willingly 
^ J reveals her purpose to man ; but the higher, 
^^^ which comprises man himself, is more reticent. 
Lives will be sacrificed, moons will wax and wane, and 
cycles be turned : yet the revelation will be afar. 

3917 
Corrupt citizens make corrupt officials, therefore to 
cleanse politics cleanse the home and the State will 
care for itself. 

3918 

If death loves a shining mark it must not be inferred 
that life prefers a tallow dip to the sun. 

3919 
The angels are torchbearers to light the soul through 
the misty vale of death — and what are angels but the 
loved gone before ? 

3920 

Indolence would rock all day in the lap of luxury if 
not crowded out by necessity. 

3921 
Worry begins in the mind and ends there ; then let 
the circumference of the circle be small or it will be 
larger than the mind. 

3922 
Original thought is claimed by many writers, but 
thought is a free, inexhaustible, eternal quantity, and 
he who claims to have originated thought may with 
as much propriety proclaim himself God. 

3923 
A dreary life finds little consolation in a prospective 
heaven: an ever-present negation of that condition 
in the now overshadows the future. 

3924 
Maxims are good for those who heed. 
And wise are they who never need. 



419 



3925 

DO one wants a maniac in the home, yet a house- 
hold will admit anger occasionally, and crime 
with its red eye and cruel mien crowds so 
closely upon its heels that it is apt to slip in with its 
mate to do awful deeds. 

3926 

A buUseye is made in false pride every time common- 
sense fires at it. 

3927 
It takes a very long pole to knock the apples of wisdom 
off the tree of life. 

3928 

Confidence leans on the arm of love through rain and 
sunshine, heat and snow. 

3929 

Frugality is the defense of the poor against the army 
of want. 

3930 

A fountain of perpetual youth flows from under- 
standing. 

3931 

Disease is not more contagious than bad language* 




420 



BOOK SEVENTEEN 




3932 
HY does the warrior strut and the 
plowman bend? Answer, ye who 
know ! Have not the selfish exalted 
one and debased the other? Has 
it not been thought a curse to 
earn one's bread by the sweat of 
the brow since the Adam story? 
War is the curse of mankind and 
work the savior. Living peoples must not in their 
jealous frenzy murder one another. God gives man 
breath and He alone can take it from him without 
sin. It is his possession for a short time, that he may 
labor diligently in earth's vineyard; then to yield it 
and go hence when called to higher fields of usefulness. 
Such is Twentieth-Century thought, based on things 
seen and unseen. 

3933 
Hypocrisy is a burning coal carried in the hand, and 
every one is scorched who clasps the fingers. 

3934 

The revenue derived from dishonesty is so much 
poison with which to commit moral suicide. 

3935 
As a tune is learned sooner by singing than by sighing, 
so is a talent developed more quickly by recognition 
than by denial. 

3936 
A bargain-seeker will always find the accommodating 
vender lying in wait with prize-package in hand. 

3937 
As a slight shower hinders the May dance, so will a 
trifle hinder happiness. 

3938 
Intelligence is the inflow of Divine light into the mind 
of man ; and wherever the man of intellect resides, there 
radiate from him rays of thought that illumine many 
mysterious corners of life. 



423 



3939 

HEGAL statutes restrain because of the penalty 
attached thereto ; and when Nature's laws are 
rightly interpreted for the man-child, he will 
not so carelessly break them, because he will know 
that the penalty that follows each and every infringe- 
ment is never set aside. 

3940 

A genial countenance illuminates a large company, 
but a sour visage puts out the light. 

3941 
Goodness and kindness are twin sisters whose lives 
are spent in thought of others. 

3942 

Faithfulness and truthfulness are the foundation of 
matrimony without which the structure falls. 

3943 

Eccentricity is more agreeable to meet at the public 
inn than at the fireside. 

3944 

Love! What is it? To each individual it hath a dif- 
ferent definition : to one it is of earth, earthy ; to 
another, of heaven, heavenly ; but it seemeth to be 
the energy that makes and holds worlds — the God- 
essence that permeates all life. 

3945 
The fear of death is all that stands between many 
men and many sins. 

3946 
Irregular habits make irresponsible men, and irrespon- 
^ sible men make ready rogues but poor citizens. 

3947 

A naked mind is a greater offense against society than 
a naked body. 

3948 

Necessity is the lever that moves the world. 



424 



3949 

VICTUALS and drink are needed each time the 
sun returns to sustain the physical man ; alas ! 
how few feed the spiritual man, whose hunger 
is so great that he dies of starvation without complaint. 

3950 
It is better to sup on porridge with honesty and 
virtue than to partake of the fatted calf and drink of 
the red wine with luxury and vice. 

3951 
A villain is the servant of his own plots. 

3952 
A habitue of the playhouse who subsists on the over- 
seasoned hash of comedy and tragedy turns from 
plain fare. 

3953 
Authority wielded by a fool, or authority wielded by 
a knave, is a two-horned dilemma ; and upon whichever 
horn the public is tossed, it is sure to be injured. 

3954 

A welcome guest listeneth to the promptings of Time. 

3955 
A lover of truth will dig for it in the mire of falsehood. 

3956 
When a suffering people are confronted by the two 
tyrants, theocracy and plutocracy, only a wise leader 
can conduct them safely through the Red Sea of trouble. 

3957 
Thy neighbor might become thy surety, but ask him 
not unless you intend to move. 

3958 
God gavest man a fair knowledge of men, but con- 
cealed Himself entirely from them, so that they know 
Him not, however much they may boast. 



425 



3959 

He who roams gathers more experience than con- 
tentment. 

3960 

Sagacity is the friend of the animal and frequently 
would serve man better than theory. 

3961 

When chasing a foxy debtor follow the hounds closely 
if you wish to take the brush. 

3962 

Examine thy heart frequently to discover if there be 
aught within that does not belong there. 

3963 
It is said to be an omen of good luck to find a horse- 
shoe ; but the finder's luck lies not so much in the 
horseshoe as in finding something, however small. 

3964 

A loveless life is like a leafless tree — a dreary object 
'gainst a wintry sky. 

3965 

A stubborn mind resides in a weak head. 

3966 ^ 

Wit and humor are the pepper and salt of debate. 

3967 
Loquacity will run the conversational mill, but it 
turns out a small grist. 

3968 

Much legal ingenuity is required to successfully defend 
vice against justice. 

3969 
Who is bold enough to declare that a dishonest man 
walks as close to God as an honest one ? 

3970 
Hate is the forerunner of confusion, and confusion is 
the forerunner of disaster. 



426 



3971 

XNASMUCH as God has endowed human beings 
with reason, let them exercise it in determining 
their relation and conduct toward Him, irre- 
spective of inherited hindrances to individual freedom 
of opinion. 

3972 
An effort in behalf of justice is an effort in behalf of 
liberty. 

3973 
Royalty affects disdain when compelled to exchange 
words with democracy, and democracy is invariably 
annoyed when associating with royalty. 

3974 

Display would soon weary of going forth did the 
people close their eyes. 

3975 
Marital indiscretion creates apprehension, which 
makes the day midnight and goblins to walk at noon. 

3976 
Plutocracy rides in a triumphal car drawn by the poor. 

3977 
A wholesome lesson is contained in every defeat. 

3978 
Labor unhesitatingly turns want out of the cottage. 

3979 
The loud and urgent petitioning of the sinner suggests 
that the Lord is either deaf or in bad humor. 

3980 
Confer a favor on a stingy man and he will return but 
thanks. Confer a favor on a generous man and he 
returns thanks and the favor also. 

3981 
A bright morn does not preclude a shower in the 
evening, neither does a fair promise imply a fair act. 



427 



3982 
Incantations please the superstitious ; superstition 
pleases the ignorant ; but neither please him who has 
cast off swaddling-clothes. 

3983 
A jolly man enjoys what a sober man ignores. 

3984 
One glimpse of Paradise would compel instant obey- 
ance of Divine law, and it is because of man's short- 
sightedness that he continues in evil. 

3985 
Despondency is the most intimate companion of 
misery. 

3986 
Literature is the open portal to unalloyed pleasure, 
the charming companion of solitude, and a kind 
friend to all. 

3987 
Anachronism is unfortunate for any historian, but 
most disastrous for the theologian. 

3988 

Versatility belongs to the many, adaptability to 
genius. 

3989 

Providence has decreed that he who acts like a fool 
shall not be accounted a sage. 

3990 

Intolerance is bom of selfishness. 

3991 
Rancor lives long after pain is forgotten. 

3992 
Acrimony delights to wound prosperity. 

3993 
Merit loves application and rewards it openly. 



428 



3994 

nOPE is the figurehead on every ship that sails 
the Human Ocean. Sometimes it is carried away 
by the heavy seas that break over the bow, but 
whenever a port is reached it is replaced, the owner 
gives cheers, looses his moorings and sails away on 
another voyage. 

3995 

Perfection depends much for assistance on encourage- 
ment. 

3996 
When the apostles of art walk the earth in search of 
beauty to lay their genius at her feet, they find the 
way blocked by the demons of necessity who lie in 
wait to slay them. 

3997 
The struggle for life weighs heavy when there is 
nothing but hunger in the house and nothing but 
sorrow in the heart. 

3998 

Gratitude is most pleasing when accompanied by 
affection. 

3999 

Dissipation and extravagance are the highwaymen 
of civilization. 

4000 
Fairer than the mom and brighter than the sun is the 
inspiration bestowed upon aspiration. 

4001 
A cup of water and a crust received with thankfulness 
smooths the way of the next unfortunate who asks 
assistance. 

4002 
Labor to the end that all men may profit by thy 
industry and the question of poverty is forever 
settled. 

4003 

Of all the burdens of life a diseased mind is the most 
oppressive that frail humanity is obliged to bear. 



429 




4004 
^N intelligent and faithful dog expects his 
services to be recognized by a pleasant word of 
commendation, which is readily given by a good 
master. Why then should not a man receive as much 
as a dog ? 

4005 

Generosity labors for love's sake. 

4006 

Diligence is a better watchman than negligence. The 
one courts safety, the other disaster. 

4007 
Swift fly the hours of time, but swifter the moments 
of opportunity. 

4008 
Extravagance arrives with a smile, but leaves with a 
frown. 

4009 
License to do right the good man calls liberty, and the 
bad man, bondage. 

4010 
Intelligence seeks causes. Ignorance is satisfied to 
view effects. 

4011 

Poverty and genius must be fond of each other, else 
they would not be found so much together. 

4012 
Ambition shows preference for youth and inexperience 
and may desert age altogether to dally with the young. 

4013 
A philosopher is bound to listen to the philosophy of 
others if he desires to advance his own with profit. 

4014 
Fortune does not run on a straight line, but has 
tangents that no man — be he prophet, sage or miser — 
can foresee. 



430 



4015 

B VISION of rest is the weary slave's dream of 
heaven ; but a place of industry is the heaven 
desired by the philosopher who finds his three- 
score and ten years too short to unravel the long skein 
of mystery which entangles him. 

4016 
Confidence when broken can only be mended with 
the cement of time, but never perfectly. 

4017 
Anxiety goeth about unveiled. 

4018 

Crime with its load of guilt must always drag behind 
virtue. 

4019 

A greater affront than buffoonery is chicanery. 

4020 

A gamester may not be a leader of the pious, but he 
may not have a worse heart than many who pray 
daily for his conversion to their particular belief. 

4021 
Let no man say it is well with him who hath not God 
for a partner. 

4022 
When considering the way of the journey thy pleasure 
is increased or diminished according as thy mind 
conjures. 

4023 
A single grain of commonsense sifted into the other 
ingredients that compose the daily bread will make 
a lighter and more digestible loaf. 

4024 
Seek to be just rather than popular. 

4025 
The majority should rule when the majority is right. 



431 



4026 
Elegance of thought claims no relationship to elegance 
of manner, though once in a while there is an affinity. 

4027 

A lamb led to the slaughter is the child whose life is 
made subject to the will of the ignorant. 

4028 
Bear in mind when deciding matters of weight that 
even the consensus of opinion is not infallible. 

4029 

Self-respect is the truest of friends, as it can be 
depended upon to carry one safely through great 
difficulties. 

4030 

Guidance is often necessary, but always seek it from 
a superior if you wish to ascend. 

4031 
A stingy man groans inaudibly when decency compels 
him to put his mite on the public plate, and the 
generous man can not suppress a laugh. 

4032 

Curiosity abounds in children and occupies the place 
of good breeding in many adults. 

4033 
Heaven hath knowledge of so much evil that it is 
hidden from earth by a veil of tears. 

4034 
Danger lies behind every door that is perpetually 
closed to the public eye, and misery behind every wall 
that is raised to shut up the children of earth from 
their brothers and sisters. 

4035 
Brevity is never better appreciated than in the pay- 
ment of a loan. 



432 



4036 

Faith is a stout staff on which to lean when traversing 
the vale of doubt. 

4037 
A great multitude of words are put forth to one idea — 
a cartload of advice to one useful suggestion. 

4038 

It is cruel to hint neglect when circumstances are at 
fault. 

4039 
Thy talents may not be appreciated by thy neighbors, 
but the taste of thy relatives may not be trusted. 

4040 

Fortunes are made and lost in a day, but this can not 
be said of the treasures of the mind. 

4041 

If a fraction of the money given to vice were applied 
to virtue, the sun of prosperity would shine in count- 
less homes. 

4042 

When women become more like men their friendship 
may be more lasting ; but should men become more 
like women, what then? 

4043 

Diversity of opinion fearlessly expressed is the surest 
sign of healthful growth. 

4044 

Peace will abide permanently upon the earth when 
selfishness makes room for it. 

4045 

A dejected suitor carries about a self-repeating phiz 
that none may miss his story. 

4046 
When several opinions are presented it is easiest to 
select one that conforms to our own, and this we 
seldom fail to do. 



433 



4047 
^^*/HE religious thermometer rises when ancient 
^ J idols are attacked by the scientific iconoclast. 
^^■^ The higher the idols have been placed, the more 
precious, and the fiercer the fight to keep them on 
their pedestals. 

4048 
A lavish display depletes energy in a day. 

4049 

A backbiter waits for you to turn, that he may bite you. 

4050 

Derision may amuse or it may offend, but it never 
convinces. 

4051 
Benevolence is not centered in eleemosynary institu- 
tions, but lodges in a sympathetic heart and seeks to 
express itself without ostentation or eulogistic com- 
ment. 

4052 

The contrast between a large and a small mind is not 
so apparent until they are arrayed against each other 
in religion and politics. 

4053 

Strong logic must rest on absolute truth and justice. 
Weak logic, which is usually supported by falsehood 
and error, is a temporary structure, which in its fall 
buries many beneath it. 

4054 
As society decries prying and Nature invites it, the 
curious could make better use of their time by 
questioning the latter. 

4055 

It is better to admit a doubt than by silence to con- 
firm an error. 

4056 
He who labors for humanity alone, labors for God, 
who is not considered a good paymaster by many who 
refuse to work for Him at all. 



434 



4057 

QROSPERITY is not the gathering of golden 
shekels nor yet the possession of lands and 
cattle, but the adding to and building up of an 
intellectual and spiritual structure as enduring as time 
and eternity. 

4058 
A strong steed for a long journey, but a nimble foot 
for speed. 

4059 
Persistence is the key that unlocks the secret doors of 
knowledge. 

4060 

A greater evil than the glutton is the tattler, but 
greater than either is the scandal-monger who barters 
confidence for gain. 

4061 

A Hottentot knows when a thing pleases him. What 
more can be said of any critic ? 

4062 
An inheritance of money is convenient, but an 
inheritance of commonsense is an ancestral gift for 
which the inheritor should never cease giving thanks. 

4063 
Energy is most needed when paddling against the 
current of environment. 

4064 

Elaboration of fact amounts to a plain falsehood. 

4065 

A great intellect needs no advertising or vanguards 
to herald its merits and superiority. 

4066 
When the hammer strikes the nail on the head we 
have less to say then when it strikes the thumb. Thus 
are we sparing of praise for good service and loud of 
complaint for blunders. 

4067 
A comic song is the froth of diversion. 



435 



4068 

^T* PERIODICAL spree is like unto a cyclone, 
1 1 twisting to the very center all good resolves, 
uprooting promises, and destroying the growing 
crop of reform that was sown and watered with the 
tears of repentance. 

4069 
A rolling stone may gather no moss, but a man is sure 
to gather considerable experience on his way down 
life's hill. 

4070 
Domestic dramas should never be played before the 
footlights, however often they may have been rehearsed 
behind the curtain. 

4071 
In time of want what hath a man or woman left if 
honor is gone ? 

4072 

A Stagnant mind breeds disease as surely as a stagnant 
pool. 

4073 
In the dark one can not read the written thoughts of 
man, but the unwritten ones are clearer than in the 
light of the sun. 

4074 
The liberties of the people may be safely increased 
according to the increase of their understanding and 
appreciation. 

4075 
Whoso lieth about his neighbor covereth himself with 
a mantle of dirt to conceal his identity, 

4076 
Give a man a chance to rob you and you ascertain his 
degree of honesty, but alas ! not always in time to 
save your wares. 

4077 
Selfishness is not an agreeable member of the house- 
hold, as it interferes with everybody and everything 
in it. 



436 



4078 
Severity cuts two ways : it injures the injurer as much 
as the injured. 

4079 
It is fatal to friendship to make common property of 
the purse. 

4080 

Love is the star of Ufe. 

4081 
Regret is the brother of remorse. 

4082 

A peculiarity of hospitality is that it can not maintain 
its reputation without the assistance of its guests. 

4083 

An elastic spirit yields more pleasure to its owner 
when it is not weighted with too much gold. 

4084 

A beautiful thought rarely comes to one whose mind 
is engrossed with sensuality. 

4085 

A worse malady than poverty is satiety, and work is 
the only cure for either. 

4086 
The unalloyed happiness in one's life fills only a few 
pages of the threescore and ten chapters of the book. 

4087 

An ape can not become a man, but there is no law of 
society that prevents a man from becoming an ape. 

4088 
The lark sings high in the sky from inclination ; like- 
wise do mortals sing high or low as they incline. 

4089 
When a man invites another to his house and gives 
him the best in it, be he prince or pauper, the guest 
who grumbles deserves the banishment that must 
soon follow. 



437 



4090 
Gratuitous help insures gratuitous contempt from a 
contemptible source. 

4091 

The pinch of snuff may be sneezed at, but the pinch 
of poverty may not. 

4092 

The doctrine of total depravity is evidenced by fewer 
than preach it. 

4093 

A seven days' wonder is the man who from choice 
eschews riches for poverty. 

4094 

A hearty laugh pleasantly flavors the day. 

4095 

Whosoever desires to engage successfully in the affairs 
of life must gird himself in youth for the fray. 

4096 
When the noonday sun of knowledge is shining 
brightly without, the man who lives in the cave of 
ignorance must guide his shadowy steps by the dim 
torch of faith. 

4097 
The best things in life are as inexhaustible as the 
demand. They are neither the great nor the small 
things, but such as please the individual. 

4098 

Pleasure abounds most where satiety is not known. 

4099 

The print of a hand on the staircase of knowledge 
indicates that some one has ascended. 

4100 
Lavish consideration of others will not impoverish 
any family. 

4101 
Abstinence is good policy when inclination is near. 



438 



:Q' 



4102 
|EFORM begins by the individual cleansing of 
the innermost comers of the mind and working 
outward, for be it not understood that brushing 
the exterior will renovate the interior of the taber- 
nacle. 

4103 

More efficacious is rebuke administered in silence than 
in anger. 

4104 

Labor may soil the hands and bend the back, but 
should not break the heart nor bend the spirit. 

4105 
Physical hunger decreases, but spiritual hunger 
increases with nourishment. 

4106 

A beautiful visage ofttimes is more in love with itself 
than with anything else. 

4107 
A little wit will parry the thrust of a big blunder. 

4108 

A fertile tongue does not bespeak a fertile mind. 

4109 
The most menial service hath dignity when it is 
performed that another may not lack comfort. 

4110 

One must bore deep for pure water. So must one who 
wishes to draw from the deep rivers of thought bore 
through the many strata until the unfailing flow of 
inspiration is tapped. 

4111 
Silence is never more commendable than when anger 
knocks for admittance. 

4112 
A vagabond is the product of civilization and a guest 
at large of the entire globe. 



439 



4113 
A Hebrew Bible and a Greek Testament are the corner- 
stones of theology, but the mountain-ranges and the 
shoreless seas mark the place where science has met 
the eternal God. 

4114 
Laugh not at the illiterate, but pity, for their defects 
make them so conspicuous that they could not be 
modest if they would. 

4115 
An open grave receives a corrupt body, but man never. 

4116 

A free and united country is a prophetic dream yet 
to be fulfilled. 

4117 
A brave and honorable independence is preferable to a 
king's domain. 

4118 

A safe and quick cure for adversity is a measure of 
prosperity taken in small doses. 

4119 

A blessing is contentment, for with contentment comes 
peace, whose presence beautifies the lowliest home. 




440 



BOOK EIGHTEEN 




4120 
JHERE is an old saying that if an 
inch is given, an ell will be taken. 
Too true ! too true ! And this is 
the reason that so many private 
homes are barricaded against 
public invasion. The masses, by 
their depredations, draw a line 
between themselves and the art- 
treasures contained in great mansions. 
The earmark of vandalism, the unrefined rich and the 
unrefined poor have put upon themselves ! They have 
writ an outdoor warning against their admittance. 
Behold the hacked trees, the mutilated branches, the 
lettered seats, inscribed rocks and the littered way! 
Until these signs cease, ye shall know that it is not 
wise to live with open doors, and the ten righteous 
will not save the many from condemnation. 

4121 
On holidays wear your broadest smile. On holy days 
laughter is forbidden, that your behavior become the 
occasion. 

4122 
A loud calling indicates the whereabouts of the 
caller, but not necessarily of the called. 

4123 

A pleasant morning is frequently followed by a 
stormy evening and it is not safe to predict that the 
closing days of life will be like the morning hours. 

4124 
A stoic affects indifference but the human heart craves 
sympathy, it matters not how much wrapped it may 
be from public observation. 

4125 

A heart full of sympathy and a head full of sense are 
the essential requisites for the making of a good 
citizen. 



443 



4126 
^^-/HE vanity and impertinence of tardiness are 
L) intolerable. Presuming that the assembled 
^^^ company has sustained a loss, tardiness loads 
itself with apologies and dispenses them with much 
ado on arrival. 

4127 

Old age is not the time to prepare for battle. 

4128 
It is no man's business to exploit his neighbors' affairs 
unless he be hired for that purpose. 

4129 
A familiar but always laughable farce is a nobody 
trying to play the part of a somebody. 

4130 
The dearest spot on earth is home when home contains 
the heart. 

4131 

A sweet disposition is as pleasing as the odor of violets. 

4132 
The mist of disappointment vanishes with the sunny 
rays of hope. 

4133 
A bestial man has no counterpart amongst the 
animals, for they lead clean lives. 

4134 
The liability of misfortune to overtake and devour 
riches makes the journey of the latter, one of extreme 
anxiety and peril. 

4135 
The highest authority on ethics is founded on experi- 
ence and preserved in books. 

4136 
It is difficult to arbitrate questions of domestic 
economy when there are several minds in the family 
each claiming supremacy. 



444 



4137 
^^n/HERE is naught to sustain the theory that 
CI man was created in the image of God, but it is 
^^^ quite true to say that God is created in man's 
mind and as grows the mind so grows the image 
until personaUty is lost in universality. 

4138 

Great fortunes are annually spent in laying the 
foundations of misery. 

4139 
To disarm suspicion when investigation demands 
admittance, open the door at once. 

4140 
Sincere and homely phrasing is more musical than the 
rhythmic words of hypocrisy. 

4141 
The vicious yearly spend enough money, time and 
energy to build their own prisons. 

4142 
Noble heroism unrecognized by the public : the con- 
stant effort of the good wife to reform the dissipated 
husband. 

4143 
Keep the children near Nature and you keep them 
near God. 

4144 

Theocracy wears on its head a thorny crown, 
And on its face a cruel frown. 

4145 
The truth-seeker leads a lonelier life than the money- 
seeker, but in the end the first is rich and the last is 
poor. 

4146 
Confession may ease the mind but it does not remove 
the tracing of a sin which is deeply and lastingly 
graven on the tablet of memory. 



445 



4147 
^W^HEN the laborer desires truth and justice more 
rif than aught else he shall rise and shine. But woe 
^^^ unto him who in his heart lays low the palaces 
of civilization. Truly the righteous abhor destruction ; 
only barbarians seek it. 

4148 
Daily intercourse with the rude blurs the polish of 
fine manners. 

4149 
Creeds have bound more minds than science can in a 
long time release. 

4150 
It were better to place a rubber doll in the halls of 
legislation than a man with a rubber conscience ; the 
former would neither do mischief nor take a bribe, 
the latter does little else. 

4151 

A hermit should be the happiest of men — always in 
love with himself and no one to rouse his jealousy. 

4152 
A variety of seasoning added in proper quantities to 
the domestic salad makes it more relishable than 
plain greens every day. 

4153 
It is a fact that the less a brag knows about a subject 
the more determined is he to let it be known. 

4154 

One would have to be ten feet high to overlook the 
faults of others, but only a pigmy to overlook one's 
own. 

4155 
The better way to serve an enemy is to forget him ; 
and should you meet, convey this idea to him, then 
his anger may be turned to shame and you be master 
of the field. 

4156 
It is impossible for a little mind to fill a large space. 



446 



4157 

XF I were Santa Claus I would load my sleigh 
with Liberty Bells, and every boy and every 
girl in the land should have one, and every day 
they should chime until man, woman and child became 
acquainted with the true significance of the beautiful 
word and learn to love and value and honor liberty, 
the holiest of human privileges. 

4158 
A lack of tender sentiment makes life a sandy desert, 
across which the journey is tiresome, lonely and 
monotonous. 

4159 

A slave is every man who permits another to dictate 
his politics and his religion — those are things that 
should be selected without coercion. 

4160 
Straws blow with the wind, but rocks do not ; therefore 
be a rock if you do not wish to be tossed about with 
every turn of the weather-vane. 

4161 
The anticipation of pleasure carries one beyond a 
matter of fact, consequently the reality is not so 
pleasant as expectation. 

4162 
To see straight one must look straight and not squint 
around corners and then wonder why everything and 
everybody appears crooked and out of line. 

4163 
Whirling at a terrific rate of speed is the round globe, 
but it is as a snail's pace compared with the flight of 
thought, whose swiftness knows no limit. 

4164 
Friendship is but a name unless the opportunity has 
been offered and promptly accepted to perform some 
service requiring self-sacrifice. 



447 



4165 

QAUPERS are oftener made by vice and sloth 
than by industry and frugaUty, and if this 
statement were posted on the doors and Untels 
of civiUzation, it might make the careless careful and 
the wasteful frugal. 

4166 
Place before a child the best pictures of life and he 
will copy them. 

4167 
He who turns from truth will accompany falsehood 
to the brink of destruction. 

4168 

When guilt is added to the ordinary luggage of life, 
it outweighs all joy. 

4169 

Horticulture has two pleasant ways: the morning 
walk of industry and the evening stroll of contentment. 

4170 
A sharp wit makes bold to play upon the follies of 
others, but incidentally he touches upon his own 
foibles, which keeps him on the plane of other men. 

4171 
A variety performance gives more rest to the mind 
than a continuous play : so it is with daily'occupation. 

4172 
A vain fowl does not conceal vanity with spreading 
feathers, neither does a vain woman, however much 
she may pretend. 

4173 
Idleness hath no dignity, but makes a pretense of 
superiority that would amuse did it not cast the 
burden of living on others. 

4174 
A leaky house that stands on a hill has no advantage 
over a leaky house that stands on a plain. Neither 
is one lie better than another. 



448 



4175 
^^^O the village doctor and the parson are entrusted 
^ J many secrets, but the gossips declare themselves 
^^^ the rightful custodians of all public and private 
affairs and possess themselves in a degree most per- 
plexing to honest folk. 

4176 
A generous supply of conceit enables one to talk 
confidently if not convincingly. 

4177 
Decency forbids the association of truth and false- 
hood. 

4178 

Few should have wealth, for few are not the worse for 
its possession. 

4179 
A dwarfed body excites more curiosity than a dwarfed 
mind, the latter being so common as to pass unnoticed. 

4180 
Love of excitement is the forerunner of discontent, and 
discontent is the quick destroyer of domestic life. 

4181 

The ship of state is ever in more danger of foundering 
in a religious hurricane than in a political gale. 

4182 
The breadwinners and the caretakers are not so soon 
forgotten as the idlers and the merrymakers. 

4183 
Habitual intemperance and habitual failure abide 
much together. 

4184 
The energy wasted to ruin one life would provide for 
several. 

4185 

The wings of mercy are wide enough to brood the 
whole human family. 



449 



4186 

ONE by one the leaves of the rose unfold and 
exhale their heavenly perfume ; then they fall 
to the ground and the spirit floats aloft to bud 
and blossom in the upper world of thought and beauty. 
Likewise the soul of man. 

4187 
A common saying is that when a man dies that is the 
end of him, but it would seem nearer the truth to say 
it is the beginning. 

4188 
The favorite pastime of old and young is the chase for 
money. The majority are poorly mounted or are 
inferior riders, consequently many are ditched and 
thrown at the outset, only one now and then securing 
a brush. 

4189 
An accumulation of titles is part of the rubbish 
gathered in royal life. 

4190 
No person, unless small indeed, can crawl through the 
little end of the horn of experience without being 
squeezed. 

4191 
When one is prompted to do a kind or generous act 
and is restrained by poverty, the thought must be 
placed to one's credit. 

4192 

As lamentable as failure is, it is kinder than success 
when success destroys those upon whom it falls. 

4193 

To have a beautiful mind one must cultivate beautiful 
thoughts that they may spring up and blossom in 
season. 

4194 
The ingenuity of man has suggested many contri- 
vances to prevent stealing, but has concerned little 
to prevent lying. 



450 



4195 
^^^HE wit and humor, sense and logic, pathos 
1^) and poetry, expressed in a single day, were it 
^^^ recorded, would be a marvelous revelation of 
human life and in ages to come might be the atom 
upon which to build a new bible. 

4196 
Religion is offered so freely that the world does not 
seem very anxious for it. 

4197 
Ostracism is not harder to bear than mere toleration. 

4198 
Badges of distinction are more frequently worn than 
medals of honor. 

4199 
If a man love the truth he will search for it. 

4200 

Close upon the heels of time treads experience, but it 
has never been known to overtake it. 

4201 

A fortune does not wait long for a claimant, but a 
claimant may wait forever for a fortune. 

4202 

The majority of men make better citizens than 
presidents, though few could be so persuaded were the 
chair within reach. 

4203 
One must have strong vision to see his neighbor's 
interest as clearly as his own. 

4204 

It is a delicate experiment to trifle with expectations ; 
they so often take offense and leave altogether. 

4205 

Folly laughs gaily in company, but when alone it 
wears the face of death. 



451 



4206 
iw^HEN full civilization abides with us, locks, bars 
vJy ^^^ bolts will disappear, and until that time 
^"■^^ man is but a pretender to high place, a vain 
bragging creature with nothing but platitudes to offer 
in defense of his unworthy state. 

4207 
A visionary man is more interested in the future than 
in present events, and therefore misses much of profit. 

4208 
No man owes respect to authority that partakes of 
brutality. 

4209 
A lake of fire and brimstone is not more terrible to 
contemplate than an eternity of idleness. 

4210 
Depression follows exaltation as the valley lies below 
the mountain. 

4211 
Many mistake solicitude for kindness when it is only 
interference. 

4212 

A sad heart may seek the companionship of gay 
laughter, but gay laughter does not fraternize with a 
sad heart from choice. 

4213 
Every holiday is a trump-card in the fifty-two weeks' 
shuffle of the year. 

4214 

A babe born in a manger may some day be a leader 
of men, but should he so born elect to always live in 
that manger, probably no one would waste time and 
energy trying to cast him out. 

4215 
When a priest reads your horoscope his predictions 
concerning your future are not very consoling if your 
theology differs from his. 



452 



4216 

^^i^HE plumed knight and the lady are they called 
^ J in romantic history, who dally with Cupid ; but 
^^^ in real life they are as often the scullery-maid 
and the scavenger, because Cupid has no favorites 
and is not a respecter of persons. 

4217 
Whatsoever a man has to do let him do it well, as 
perchance it is his final work and his only monument. 

4218 
Silence when bought with a principle is an extravagant 
purchase. 

4219 
Vulgarity is not a friend even to itself. 

4220 

If our arisen friends witness our frantic efforts and 
miserable failures to become suddenly rich, may we 
not ourselves keep them in purgatory longer than any 
deserve ? 

4221 
The ties of true love are never broken ; the silver cord 
will stretch from earth to heaven. 

4222 

The best advocates of a cause are those who love it 
better than themselves. 

4223 

A sudden change of front exposes one's back to con- 
siderable danger. 

4224 
The past is a wilderness of mistakes, and should you 
now be midway on your journey, the future contains 
as many more. 

4225 
Who would think of determining the quality of a 
man's brain by the cut and color of his hair ! Yet this 
is no more absurd than determining a man's worth 
by the cut and quality of his apparel. 



453 



4226 
y^^/HE weighty responsibilities that fall upon the 
^ J wealthy are quickly perceived by the poor, 
^^^ who are ever desirous of shouldering the burden, 
not so much with a desire to help the rich as to change 
places with them. 

4227 
A happy turn of thought gives the mind a holiday, 
but a despondent twist makes it slave from mom till 
mom. 

4228 

When the debate is too long the points grow dull. 

4229 

One may shout victory when one can live without 
care. 

4230 

When interference takes the place of advice, it is 
intolerable. 

4231 

You can not determine the depth of the pocket by 
the length of the coat. 

4232 

A long head serves as well as a long purse in times of 
perplexity, but when the two are associated obstacles 
disappear as if by magic. 

4233 
A welcome guest is he who comes with a smiling 
countenance and a merry word. 

4234 

Why should the poor feel flattered when noticed by 
the rich, and why should the rich feel condescension 
when addressing the poor — are they not all brothers 
and sisters, and God their common father? 

4235 

A suitable place for the casting of a doubt is in the 
stream of knowledge, where the clear, swift current 
will carry it far away. 



454 



4236 

BCCORDING to means and opportunity there 
is no more and no less charity amongst the poor 
than amongst the rich. Both keep well within 
their own territory, and it is only when they step over 
the line that the public hears of their generosity. 

4237 
A pepper-pod is not sharper than temporary authority. 

4238 

The best witnesses for truth are those who are best 
acquainted with it. 

4239 

An enduring monument — the shaft of integrity* 

4240 
How realistic and awful the picture the mind draws 
of a lake of fire and brimstone — but who is wicked 
enough to sketch the face of a dear friend struggling 
and suffering therein? 

4241 

A deliberate, malicious, revengful lie is a triple- 
headed monster that truth slays with considerable 
difficulty and delay. 

4242 

The most far-reaching thought of man will never 
penetrate the sanctuary of the living God of the 
universe. 

4243 

A beautiful object is an inspiration, and an inspiration 
is a breath of divinity. 

4244 
A dried mind is as unsatisfactory as a dried apple. 
The substitute can never fill the place of the fresh 
and juicy fruit. 

4245 
Your dullest guest may be the most appreciative of the 
choice viands and rare vintages placed before him, 
and your brightest the most indifferent to quality 
and service. 



455 



4246 
iy^HEN a stingy man is seized with a sudden 
ill impulse to give, violent reaction is sure to 
follow, therefore it is well to watch symptoms 
closely at the beginning and take advantage of any 
favorable sign. 

4247 

Success depends more upon determination than 
circumstances. 

4248 
To hide behind the door of conviction and keep silent 
when some one knocks for an answer evidences the 
coward within. 

4249 
A wajrward youth is a signboard on a disgraced house. 

4250 

It is a great achievement to root out prejudice, whether 
it grow in your own or your neighbor's field. 

4251 
The most fortunate individual in the world is the 
wisest one. Then it naturally follows that the most 
unfortunate is the most unwise. 

4252 

Who ever saw a savage running after religion unless 
he was chased by a missionary? 

4253 
A drunken man looks at his friends through drunken 
eyes and judges them accordingly. 

4254 

Ten thousand shouting voices could not drown the 
voice of conscience. 

4255 
The husbandman must toil that he may reap. The 
fisherman must follow the stream to fish. Yet how 
many expect the blessings of life to come without 
effort and the fish to bite on dry land. 



456 



4256 
^^^HE becomingness of poverty and the unbecom- 
C^) ingness of wealth is not a subject for a popular 
^^^ lecture ; but the thought protrudes itself when 
one sees vulgarity arrayed in extreme fashion and 
refinement shabbily covered. 

4257 
A valiant effort in behalf of justice endows one with 
courage to defend the weak. 

4258 
The sanctity of matrimony has been well-nigh 
destroyed by money and jests. 

4259 
A noble life needs no creed but brotherly love to 
insure salvation. 

4260 
An adamantine heart can only be softened by the 
trip-hammer of disciplinary experience. 

4261 

It is more enduring to crown the immortal mind with 
truth than to wear upon the mortal brow the gems 
of earth. 

4262 

How deep the silence of a living soul, its breathing 
scarce felt by mortal who nearest is. 

4263 
A welcome suitor is he who comes with a full purse 
in one hand and a full heart in the other. 

4264 

There is sure to be a fine kettle of fish when two 
lovers are angling in the same brook. 

4265 

It may not be a secret to all, but it is to a few, that 
the chief hindrance to heroism is lack of the quality 
itself. 



457 



4266 

GARE is especially needed in the rearing of good 
citizens, but alas ! insufficient is exercised, and 
behold the result in the prison-houses, asylums 
and infirmaries, and the knaves, the fools and the 
cruel in public places. 

4267 
The halcyon hours of matrimony are those preceding 
arguments, and the most incompatible those following. 

4268 

Nowhere in the great wide world is there so much 
need of pity as for the brute creation in their feeble- 
ness to make known their sufferings. 

4269 
Carnal appetite brings death to him who indulges it. 

4270 
A lascivious thought or act is a swift run down the 
hill of destruction. 

4271 
It is no greater sin to poison the body than to poison 
the mind, but mental suicide is not recorded amongst 
the namable sins of commission. 

4272 
It is easier to walk leisurely along a smooth road than 
to run over a rough one, and this is the difference 
between competency and penury. 

4273 
Thou hast much joy if thou canst speak thy thoughts 
with tone, form and color. 

4274 
Abundant wine makes abundant folly, and the ripple 
that is set in motion gathers until it breaks in a great 
wave on the shore of society. 

4275 
An enemy is not a good thing to stumble upon sud- 
denly, and he is safest who makes fewest. 



458 



4276 
^EARinmind, ye bonnie lassies, though Cupid 
follows no prescribed route and may jump 
fences and run about in most eccentric fashion, 
you are just as liable to meet him coming through the 
door as coming through the rye. 



©" 



4277 
If ninety and nine prophets fail and one is true, that 
one will be remembered and the ninety and nine will 
be forgotten. 

4278 
A beautiful lake so clear and deep that everything 
that floats on its surface i^ reflected beneath — such is 
the immortal soul. 

4279 
The world smiles and bows low to prosperity, but 
prosperity is not always in humor to return the salute 
graciously. 

4280 
A wild Indian knows as much about God as the most 
learned theologian, but doubtless each would claim 
to be the wiser. 

4281 

Loud is the complaint against sinning, yet those who 
complain keep on sinning and expect others to abandon 
sin at the tooting of a horn. 

4282 
Matrimony is sacred when love is ever present, but 
marriage does not create love and without it husband 
and wife are without companion. 

4283 
To better understand the spiritual laws of being it is 
well to enter psychological realms, gathering fragments 
from everywhere. 

4284 
A grain of sand is a smaller thing on the beach than 
in the eye, and so are the troubles of others compared 
with our own. 



459 



4285 
^^k^HERE are two signs at every turning — one is 
^ J revelry and danger, and the other is sobriety 
^^^ and safety — but travelers either do not read or 
do not heed, for they as often go the dangerous as the 
safe way. 

4286 
A wise head permits but a little wisdom to escape at 
a time. 

4287 
The only antidote for ennui is labor in some of the 
many fields of usefulness. 

4288 
Blighted affection is the frost of an approaching 
Winter of loneliness. 

4289 

A conservative estimate of the sins of humanity would 
place them well in advance of their virtues, did not 
virtue stand in the ratio of gold to the baser metals. 

4290 
The best test of a man's sincerity is his adherence to 
a principle that is antagonistic to his personal interest. 

4291 

The love of freedom is so strong in some natures that 
without it they perish, and with such, restraint of 
body is less torturous than encasement of mind in a 
religious or political straitjacket. 

4292 

A river of truth flows through the plains of error that 
is turned at intervals upon the thirsty sands, that 
fruit and grain may grow thereon for the diligent 
husbandman who toils for knowledge. 

4293 
A trustworthy servant of the people laughs at personal 
gain and will turn his back on his own interests 
whenever the public welfare is better conserved by his 
antagonist. 



460 



e 



4294 

fIVE us this day our daily bread is the universal 
prayer; but with all the pleading many go 
hungry, not even the crumbs falling to their 
lot. Who then will dare say that God heareth and 
answereth hunger's prayer ! It is thy brother who 
must share his loaf; it is thy sister who gives of the 
crumbs ; it is thyself who must cease to be selfish : and 
all must abandon greed and strive to be just. 

4295 

Wit barbed with cruelty is fatal to friendship. 

4296 
A foe may wear the face of a friend, but a friend will 
never wear the face of a foe. 

4297 

A hundred tails will not make a lion nor a thousand 
trunks an elephant. Wherefore then complain that 
individuals are what they are and demand impos- 
sibilities ? 

4298 
Correct diction is the fine raiment of thought, and its 
adornment the white rose of purity. 

4299 
The fearless advocacy of a cause does not prove that 
cause just. Error has ever been as valiantly cham- 
pioned as the right. 

4300 

If a man love his neighbor as himself he will befriend 
him and defend him. 

4301 
Wherever one may go, one will find selfishness and 
injustice under the same roof. They are inseparable. 

4302 

The percentage of falsehoods is so out of proportion 
to the exact truth that the answer is not written in 
the key of moral arithmetic. • 



461 



4303 

XT is comforting to most Christians to look for- 
ward to death as the time of rest. Whether 
because of overwork or love of ease, the thought 
is not one that will spur to action any dormant faculty 
or rouse the ambition of any one, and were better left 
behind with the old doctrines and beliefs than carried 
along with the new. 

4304 
A grain will turn the scales either way, and as words 
are but grains in the affairs of life they should be 
accurate. 

4305 

A lengthy argument widens the breach of misunder- 
standing. 

4306 
Virtue attends every one who will permit. 

4307 
A pointed story is better than a blunt fact to pry 
open a dull mind. 

4308 

If the weak were compelled to rise when they first fall, 
fewer would fall a second time. 




462 



BOOK NINETEEN 



i 


^^ 


s 


1 




w 


^ 


^^S^ 


^:i^ 



4309 
UR loss is incalculable when we 
piit aside useful employment to 
sit with folded hands. Our brains 
wither when we no longer work. 
There are so many services that 
brother can render brother that 
idleness seems unnatural. Poets, 
dreamers of dreams, the chroniclers 
of truth, writers of music and the interpreters of master 
compositions, the artists, the artisans, hewers of 
wood and drawers of water, all these are aids to noble 
living ; but luckless are they who toil not, are vain of 
their indolence, and show contempt for honest normal 
life. 

4310 

An agent of Beelzebub is the person who goes about 
gathering gossip to retail. 

4311 
Innocence hath no redress when despoiled. 

4312 

Moral sanitation is the last thought that reaches an 
unclean mind. 

4313 
Amusements, like medicine, should be taken in small 
doses and not too frequently, lest injury instead of 
benefit follow. 

4314 

A thought may reach the Pleiades, but God never, for 
He is without location and beyond the limit of finite 
mind, and therefore remains unthinkable and unknow- 
able. 

4315 
Socialism will not civilize the masses. Civilization's 
hope is the individual constantly arising from the 
masses. 

4316 

An appetite for rum no man can indulge and walk the 
highway of propriety and happiness. 



465 



4317 
iw^HEN the sunlight appears in the East, men 
C^ly happily exclaim, '* It is day." When it dis- 
^^ appears in the West, they say, '* The night 
Cometh on." But when the first bright ray of science 
peers over the mountains of ignorance, pious people 
predict darkness ; and when it vanishes for a time, 
they joyfully exclaim, ** The morning light is break- 
ing!" Wherefore this twist in the mental vision? 

4318 
Evolution makes good possible. 

4319 

He who slays a brother surrenders himself to endless 
bondage to the crime. 

4320 
The tender vine of childhood reaches out with its 
dainty tendrils and clings to a leafless tree or a bent 
limb with as much affection as to a perfect support. 

4321 
Simplicity is ever beautiful, but more especially with 
the face of innocence. 

4322 
A misunderstanding that can not be cleared with a 
line can not be righted with a chapter. 

4323 
A man's fortune may consist of knowledge or gold or 
both, but certain it is that only the former can he 
take to the land of the soul, whither he must migrate 
whenever Death commands him. 

4324 
There are lay-figures in society as in shop-windows 
who continually turn on a pivot for onlookers to 
admire. 

4325 
It is not known that a vain man is more diffident 
about exhibiting for admiration than a vain woman. 



466 



4326 

HINE raiment is easily obtainable, but the fine 
deportment that should properly go with it, 
unfortunately is not for sale, and coarser garb 
would be more fitting for buyers who are conspic- 
uously in need of the latter. 

4327 
The most perfect outward beauty is as naught when 
compared with the beauty of unselfish devotion, that 
hides under the mantle of hardships to serve its loved 
ones. 

4328 
When women are permitted to participate in the 
affairs of state, men will pay more attention to their 
sworn duty or be distanced in the race for honors. 

4329 
Two thousand years ago it was written that no man 
had seen the Father at any time, and we know there 
has been no meeting since. 

4330 

Reverence becomes youth and glorifies old age, but 
to reverence error is to scoff at truth. 

4331 

Bread is the staff of life and butter is a gold head upon 
it. 

4332 
Lassie, if a man flatter thee, ask thyself candidly if he 
be not thinking of himself. 

4333 

Our days are like wool upon the distaff of Time, and 
the coarseness or fineness of the web will be according 
to the thread that we spin. 

4334 
No system of religion should meet with more favor 
than that founded on the divinity of man, the dignity 
of birth and the majesty of death. 



467 




4335 
(HOULD the angels listen to all the scandals of 
mortals they could not rise to their fair realms, 
so weighted would they be with filthy mire. 
IJow then can a man expect to rise when he loads him- 
self with all abominations ? 

4336 

A scapegoat is to be pitied, for not only must it bear 
its own iniquities but all that the ungodly can pile on. 

4337 
When the wicked espouse a good cause it is delayed. 

4338 

Sin is discord. Righteousness is harmony, and when 
righteousness prevails heaven listens. 

4339 

A babe sleeping in innocence composes the mind ; but 
to gaze upon the countenance of sleeping age brings 
more of awe, it is so akin to the rest that overshadows. 

4340 
Every time a truth is spoken, its echo is heard through- 
out the universe. 

4341 
Kind words are not the exclusive property of the rich, 
but everybody can bestow them whenever inclined 
without counting the cost. 

4342 

The circumference of a thought can not be greater 
than the circumference of the mind. 

4343 
Man in his search for God is like a child in the dark 
crying for light when there is no one to hear. 

4344 
Every line that is written in the great book of Life 
is corrected by the hand of Time. 



468 



4345 

HOOK at the surging multitude with their 
crutches, canes and props. No one walks erect 
— no, not one. Some hobble on the crutch of 
prevarication and deceit ; others limp with* covetous- 
ness and dishonesty ; others are bent with selfishness 
and greed, lust and pride, and so many other abomi- 
nations that even the good are bowed with grief. 

4346 

It is pleasurable to have our virtues told, but to have 
our sins exploited makes the narrator unbearable. 

4347 

Timidity frequently keeps genius in the background, 
but it does not prevent mediocrity from appearing in 
the foreground. 

4348 
Modesty is the most becoming garment that superior- 
ity can put on. 

4349 
Conservatism hangs on the car of progress, but like 
the small lad behind a wagon it falls off when the pace 
is quickened. 

4350 
A great amount of energy is expended in pursuing 
Fashion, but it runs so swiftly that it is never over- 
taken. 

4351 
True heroism is an expression of pure love, very 
beautiful and very rare. 

4352 

If the newly bom should count all day and night 
throughout the threescore years allotted to human life, 
the number reached would not express relatively a day 
of eternity. 

4353 
There are a great many balloons in society and it takes 
much gas to raise them, but the throng seem not to 
tire of the performance. 



469 



4354 

HEX any man who thinks he knows the world 
thoroughly go forth as a mendicant to meet his 
friends and ask of them alms or address them 
in words of social equality, and he will realize on his 
return that he still has a few things to learn before 
boasting. 

4355 
Permit no one to pry the lid off the pot when a family 
stew is boiling. 

4356 

It is a swift slide down the hill of morality, but a long 
pull up. 

4357 
One is not so sure of winning a fortune in a lottery 
as by industry. 

4358 
Every one is given a message for the world. Some 
deliver it well, others ill, and some not at all. 

4359 
It is somewhat beyond the common lot to amass a 
million dollars, but it should not be beyond the 
ability of any one to obtain the respect of the entire 
community. 

4360 
There is too much folly recorded in the pages of 
history to make a man boastful of his grandparents 
or over-confident of his grandchildren. 

4361 
A bean-pole will hold up a bean, but is a poor support 
on which to train a pumpkin- vine, and those who 
trust too much to bean-poles will see their golden 
expectations fall to the ground. 

4362 
Be very sure you are right before trying to make 
others accept your opinions, because if you are wrong 
you are doing as much mischief as though it were 
intentional. 



470 



4363 
^y^HAT more engaging to the young than the 
V I y anticipation of maturity, and what more delight- 
^^^ ful to the mature than the contemplation of 
youth ! Thus does each reach out for the other and 
meet on middle ground. 

4364 
Today is but the childhood of man, although his 
advent upon earth is lost in the mists of antiquity. 

4365 
The highest anticipations are always dimmed by 
tiny clouds of doubt, which realization rarely clears 
away. 

4366 
Duty often lies further from the heart than from the 
hand. 

4367 
There are few characters without stains and blemishes 
enough to condemn them were they merchandise and 
judged of men. 

4368 
Sometimes one mistakes a reflected light for a shining 
one. 

4369 
Honesty in the company of dishonesty looks guilty 
and ill at ease, whilst dishonesty reflects the virtue of 
honesty and appears to advantage. 

4370 
An unnecessary load is carried by him who takes up 
his neighbor's quarrel. 

4371 
Whether rich or poor it is against public morality for 
men and women to live without regular employment. 

4372 
He who kills time should be adjudged guilty of a 
serious crime. Time, however, may be trusted to avenge 
itself. 



471 



4373 
^TT^E must infer that our ancestors deported them- 
r I 1 selves with becomingness, for to this day and 
^^ generation are to be found those who sigh for 
the '' good old times." Therefore be it well under- 
stood that as the present always looks to the past, 
and at this moment we are making the past, it be- 
hooves us to act well our part in the present if we 
would claim the admiration of generations to come. 

4374 
A frolic with intemperance is a dance with death. 

4375 
A lost sheep bleats that it may be found, but this is 
not true of a lost brother or sister. 

4376 
A belligerent attitude may seem heroic when it is 
only comical. 

4377 
A man should not love his neighbors as himself unless 
he loves himself more than his money. 

4378 
Large numbers of those met in public thoroughfares 
are without soul growth, and what think ye is their 
appearance when the mortal vestments are removed 
and they appear in all their hidden deformity? 

4379 
Every other person thinks that every other person 
is wrong. If this be so, who is right? 

4380 
A languishing spirit is ever revived by the recital 
of good news and it is a panacea for most human ills, 
but not always at hand. 

4381 
Be generous of thy substance, but parsimonious of 
self-praise. 



472 



4382 
^^■^^'HE aborigines hated our ancestors and were 
C^) swallowed up in the great stream of coloniza- 
^^^ tion that poured in upon them; and by a 
similar law, may not we, when the cycle of our occu- 
pancy closes, be absorbed by the great ocean of 
barbarism to which the stream is running? 

4383 

It is better to die for the truth than to live a lie. 

4384 
It is wasteful to try to pour a quart of understanding 
into a pint head. 

4385 
A lonely man is he who loves solitude and can not 
find it. 

4386 

When Idleness meets Industry war is declared. 

4387 
When any one says that life is not worth living it is 
because that one knows not how to live. 

4388 

Peace enjoys domesticity and will sit by the hearth- 
stone whenever permitted. 

4389 
Signed, sealed and delivered at birth are letters patent 
to all the territory lying between the cradle and the 
grave. 

4390 
When the sun of reason sets, the world is in darkness 
and the night of superstition is long and fearsome. 

4391 

Unselfishness is the keynote to the prelude of ever- 
lasting happiness. 

4392 
A hearty laugh three times a day will cure diseases 
that defy drugs and lotions. 



473 



e 



4393 
^REAT danger lies near the nation that neglects 
public education. Let the government regard 
the ethical and intellectual culture of the masses, 
but apart from the State let the various religions take 
care of themselves. 

4394 
Visions of peace and plenty fill the imagination of 
one ; forebodings of war and famine of another ; but 
did all have a clear vision of justice, famine and blood- 
shed would be forgotten. 

4395 
Contemplation of the good in others is far wiser than 
the consideration of their faults, as the former makes 
them appear better and the latter worse than they 
really are. 

4396 

Dogs are ever more faithful in adversity than men. 

4397 
Deeper learned in the art of persuasion is the feminine 
mind, but when the exception proves the rule, the 
masculine mind has been brushed by genius. 

4398 
Virtue is victory over temptation, and the victory 
depends not so much on the strength of virtue as the 
weakness of the temptation. 

4399 
Thoroughness is commendable in all things but evil. 

4400 
Purity bubbles up from the living spirit, but is pol- 
luted by flowing through the corrupt springs of earth. 

4401 
Why may not a man have an opinion of his own if he 
be diligent enough to find one ; or why should he be 
criticized who perchance has appropriated one from 
his grandfather's collection? 



474 



4402 
^^B^HE most hopeless criminals are they who have 
1^) in them the least love, and these are they who 
^^^ need sympathy and good thoughts to awaken 
in them similar emotions, though justice must ever 
be administered with sternness and never weakened 
with laxity. 

4403 
To reach religious freedom one must tread a briery 
path, but they who have survived the ordeal declare 
it well worth the trial. 

4404 
Bitterness of heart is like unto a sharp thorn in the 
flesh, which continually wounds and will not heal 
until removed. 

4405 

The law of attraction rules in our affections when we 
give free rein to the spirit. 

4406 

Love laughs at locks and danger, but it never laughs 
at sorrow and want. 

4407 
Whilst cheating is the pastime of many, it is never 
the employment of self-respect. 

4408 
Detection, though not in the thieves' vocabulary, is 
the handwriting on the wall in every felon's cell. 

4409 
Authority that rests upon justice is from God. 

4410 
Quick promises are more brittle than slow ones. 

4411 

A barking dog may not bite ; but if he does you can 
not say that you were not warned. 

4412 

A decided answer has a stimulating effect whether it 
be yes or no. 



475 



4413 

iy^HEN an honest man goeth forth at night he 
r I y carrieth a Ught before him ; but a thief goeth 
^^ forth in the darkness that he may not be seen 
of men. Take heed therefore of him who hides his 
caUing from the world, lest he rob thee. 

4414 

The light of the world is thine own soul. 

4415 
A will without a purpose is a rudderless ship tossing 
about on the sea of destiny. 

4116 
Symmetry of body and symmetry of mind are not so 
generally associated that their separation causes 
surprise. 

4417 
The genesis of man is lacking in the archives of 
Nature, where the savant is not permitted to enter. 

4418 
Before taking our friends to task for displeasing us it 
were better to ascertain if they have pleased them- 
selves, as it is not fair to exact more than we are 
willing to grant. 

4419 
When you overtake opportunity, recognize it cor- 
dially and walk on together. 

4420 
Whatever we may think of a gamester, it must be 
said that he is trying to better his condition. 

4421 

Procrastination is more than a match for any business 
that ever wrestled with it. 

4422 
The most menial occupation that helps to turn the 
wheels of happiness is honorable, but that which puts 
obstacles in its way is dishonorable and degrading. 



476 



4423 
^^^/HE foundation and the roof of a dwelling are all- 
l^) important, but the middle stories also should 
^^^ have some attention, otherwise the structure 
is defective, and this is most true of education, for 
it is the middle stories we most occupy. 

4424 
Our opinions are grubs today and butterflies tomorrow. 

4425 

Violent convulsions of Nature tell us that God is still 
at work in His laboratory. 

4426 
Study thy daily lesson faithfully, for as sure as the 
sun appears each morn there will be given to thee one 
to learn that is worthy serious attention. 

4427 
When the sword is turned into a pruning-hook, and 
the battleships into merchantmen, the nations of 
earth will be approaching civilization. 

4428 
Dignity sitteth ill on him who mingles his advice with 
sarcasm. 

4429 
It takes less noise to frighten a thief than an honest 
man — less scandal to harm the immoral than the 
moral. 

4430 
When listening to the prowess of another, consider 
the prompting motive, that you may better judge of 
the achievements. 

4431 
It is better to spend the pennies than to hoard the 
pounds for base purposes. 

4432 

An avalanche of doubt may destroy faith, but hope 
usually escapes unharmed. 



477 



4433 
^^!^HE greedy and pious individual who wants the 
C^) whole loaf assures the meek that it is Provi- 
^^^ dence acting for their best good that cuts their 
slice so thin and spreads it so sparingly, and that it is 
ungodly to complain. 

4434 
It is hazardous to permit ignorance to govern when* 
wisdom will serve. 

4435 

The wildest savage of the jungles has his time and 
place in the world and is an important factor in the 
divine mechanism, otherwise he would not be. 

4436 
A sensitive brain receives the thoughts that pass along 
the wires of intelligence as they are sent from the 
divine to human minds. 

4437 
Write all thy thoughts upon parchment and read 
them in company if thou hast courage. 

4438 

A position to which none aspire is that of chief 
mourner. 

4439 

Whenever you break a good resolution, mend it as 
quickly as possible. 

4440 
Go not into society to find fault with it but to better it. 

4441 
Charity that is distributed with publicity is not the 
kind that the Nazarene meant when He advised the 
hands know not each other. 

4442 
That a general deluge swept over the earth is not 
altogether improbable, but that it occurred from the 
causes and in the manner as related in Jewish history, 
taxes credulity beyond the point of safety. 



478 



4443 

XN the Nineteenth Century a heretofore unap- 
pUed force brought the four quarters of the 
globe into intimate acquaintance, and corners 
that were once desolate are now as close as the next 
village. And who will deny the probability of speaking 
across the Styx when communication across the great 
oceans without effort is now possible, profitable and 
interesting ? 

4444 

Only a Hercules can lift a man out of the gutter when 
he makes no effort to lift himself. 

4445 
Seek not to buy of another his principles, as in so 
doing thou becomest accessory to moral crime. 

4446 
Far back in childhood's realm we wander when sorrow 
touches us, and we live again the past. 

4447 
Anything that savors of hypocrisy savors of falsehood, 

4448 
The small things of life are the days, the great affairs 
are the years, and as the days outnumber the years so 
are given our human lessons. 

4449 
Little can be said at any time in defense of sadness 
that were not better said of cheerfulness. 

4450 
No one can work well without enthusiasm, but this 
does not imply that all enthusiasts are clever. 

4451 
The gathering of thoughts is like the gathering of 
fruits from trees the windfalls lie at our feet and are 
obtained without effort, but for that which grows on 
the topmost boughs we must climb. 



479 



4452 

XT is a plain fact that no other remedy has been 
found by political doctors for the cure of 
poverty but industry and economy — two such 
common medicines that they are rejected by many 
sorely afflicted with the ailment. 

4453 
The best loved are those who love best. 

4454 

The bible of the future is the unwritten truth. 

4455 
In the divorcement of ethics and religion, religion 
would suffer most. 

4456 
Be calm in bereavement and let the spirit be the 
comforter. 

4457 
Etiquette demands that intellect play second fiddle 
to royalty. 

4458 
Alas ! what sorrow were ours did not the philosophers 
and the poets bequeath their precious thoughts to the 
libraries of the world. 

4459 
Dynamite is not more dangerous than the confined 
energy of ignorance. 

4460 
Little children have unwittingly spoken as wisely as 
Solomon. 

4461 
If we try to belittle ourselves we shall not want for 
assistance. 

4462 
A controlling interest in any business encourages 
covetousness. 

4463 
A long promise is stronger than a short one because 
cemented by time. 



480 



4464 

DO one ever saw a shadow fall, nor a storm retire, 
an opal lake nor a sea of glass, leaves of gold 
nor clouds of silver — though poesy describes 
them all. No one ever heard the voice of God, though 
ancient writers of a great book declare it, and men 
wax wroth even unto this day in defending the literal 
word, though others are happy and wise in extracting 
the beauty that is concealed in its poetic and mystic 
lines. 

4465 
The capital '' I " is so pleasing to us that we ought to 
continually check the propensity to use it, that we 
become not both monotonous and offensive. 

4466 

Veneering may please, but it does not satisfy. 

4467 
Doubtless it is safer and often wiser to fly than to 
fight, but the world views the fighter with admiration 
and the flyer with contempt. 

4468 
Suicide is not the act of a normal mind, for the love of 
life is so strongly implanted by Nature within man 
that it deserts him only when the mind is impoverished. 

4469 
Without a-priori reasoning, justice is hindered and 
prejudice given an unfair start. 

4470 
Punctuality is the first lesson to be learned ; when the 
bell rings the train starts whether or not you are there, 
and the opportunity goes by. 

4471 
Concentrate the mind upon a subject at least once a 
day, and three times is better, until it is disciplined 
to do your bidding promptly and not to play truant 
upon the simplest errand. 



481 




4472 
|(NOW covers the earth with a glory and the 
white queen reigns over a realm of purity until 
man goeth forth and defaces with footprints 
the beauty that surrounds. And thus does he stain 
with the heel of lust the moral whiteness that is about 
him. 

4473 
As often as thou prayest for wealth, pray for wisdom. 

4474 
Overmuch study in beaten roads weakens originality 
of thought and expression, therefore it is well to go 
into the bypaths and to gather leaves from all nooks 
and crannies when preparing the book of life. 

4475 
Happiness, with its companion. Duty, calls upon us 
every morn. Sometimes we do not open to the knock- 
ing and then unhappiness is our guest for the day. 

4476 
Repulsiveness needs as much consideration as beauty, 
but seldom receives it because our eyes must needs 
he pleased to quicken our hands. 

4477 
Languor is another name for laziness, used most by 
the indolent. 

4478 
Anarchy and insurrection are brothers and it matters 
not which outlaw were dictator where rights of 
person and property are concerned. 

4479 
Labor as hard as one may to promote habits of 
industry amid squalor, there are those who will ever 
cry of their wants, and those who cry loudest will 
work least to better their own condition. 

4480 

Deceit is a milder name for iniquity. 



482 



4481 
yi^ORTALS crawl over the surface of their little 
mlj planet and tell one another what God is like, 
•^ what He has said in times past, what He intends 
to do with man in the future, and they are neither 
cursed nor ridiculed for their presumption ; but ages 
come and go and the majesty of eternal law prevails, 
and none can fathom the mystery of being nor 
comprehend the source, and thus must it be ever and 
evermore though mortals prattle much. 

4482 

If a new broom sweeps clean, inferentially the new 
woman will sweep cleaner than the old man. 

4483 
Vain is the desire to be wise if not willing to labor 
industriously at the forge of instruction. 

4484 

One unpleasant experience overshadows all the 
pleasures of a day. 

4485 

Not welcome in the house of cheerfulness is the bearer 
of a gruesome tale that driveth laughter beyond its 
gates and covereth the inmates as with a pall. 

4486 
Gaiety romping with innocence in the halls of virtue — 
such is an ideal home. 

4487 
Very many require prodding to keep them out of 
sorrow. 

4488 
Danger acts like a sneaking coward. It takes care to 
conceal itself whenever and wherever it can and then 
springs upon its victim unawares to maim or to slay 
outright. 

4489 
A capital *' NO " should be the first word in a child's 
primer and the only word on the pages of temptation. 



483 



4490 
^^u/O grow you must be yourself; it was not 
C) intended that you be satisfied with the cast-off 
^^■^ opinions of others, but that you exercise your 
own brain and find the truth in your own way. 

4491 

Mercy belongs to love, and let us say, Love is God. 

4492 
An infant wrestling with a giant would be an appro- 
priate device to place over the door of every college 
dedicated to theology. 

4493 
No one knows what a wicked thought may do when 
sent on an evil mission. 

4494 

Apprehensive is compassion when old age is pursued 
by the specter of cold and hunger. 

4495 

Some there be who would count the cost of an adven- 
ture to themselves who would not consider others. 

4496 

The tide turns in a moment ; therefore if it has been 
long running out, be patient a little longer. 

4497 
Seclusion befits the good ; but what would become 
of the wicked did the good seclude themselves 
altogether? 

4498 
The evening is the postscript of the day and into it 
much is crowded that would have made the day more 
profitable and interesting. 

4499 
A triumphal entry into paradise would be the mon- 
arch's wish after his demise, but we opine he will 
enter the gates ajar without ceremony and in peasant 
garb. 



484 



4500 
iw^HEN the crows caw the farmer puts out a 
vlx s^^^^ man to defend his field, and this is about 
^^^ the same precaution that the voters take to 
prevent the poUtical crows from steaUng the public 
corn that has been planted. 

4501 
The fragrance of a flower is its spirit, an emanation 
from the divine garden not made with hands. 

4502 

If you wish to keep the cat in the bag, tie it with a 
strong cord of secrecy and do not be persuaded to 
undo it. 

4503 

Grief cries out for consolation, the rarest of all 
blessings bestowed. 

4504 
The fellowship of health and disease is unnatural and 
impossible physically or mentally. 

4505 
Salacious scandal is relished by prying minds more 
than modest truth. 

4506 

Were everybody to shine, the illumination would be 
too dazzling for clear sight. 

4507 
Did every one speak the truth Satan would lose his 
following, for truth is the foundation of all goodness. 

4508 
Oh, judge thee not any one unless to thee has been 
given divine wisdom. 

4509 
Sense and sentiment frequently meet on narrow 
ground and contend for right of way ; and when sound 
sense yields to silly sentiment, all who are concerned 
are imperiled. 



485 



4510 

XF a signal corps were established from earth to 
the seventh heaven, and a flag -angel placed at 
every station, mortals would soon cease to 
speculate regarding the climate beyond, and nothing 
short of this seems adequate to deter the advocate of 
one kind of religion from consigning the advocate of 
another to a torrid zone. 

4511 
Poesy loves to walk in dewy meadows and by the 
still waters and list to its own note, because in busy 
marts amid the clang of commerce it becomes 
affrighted and can not sing. 

4512 

Two busy little words, ** yes " and ** no," carry more 
joy and sorrow to human hearts than all others. 

4513 
Only when labor is self-respecting can it command 
respect. 

4514 
When we learn the truth, whatever will make us happy 
will make us better ; but while we are living in error, 
we lust after the fleshpots that make us worse. 

4515 
Intrude not thy presence in the house of affliction 
except on an errand of love. 

4516 
Do the pleasures of life recompense for its trials ? To 
answer in the negative compels argument with Deity. 

4517 
Though every one has something to say, but few know 
how to say it for all time. 

4518 
Before the world becomes perfect, idleness must be 
put to work. 



486 




4519 
SOMEWHAT hazardous and fortunately an 
unnecessary position for a man to assume is to 
look his neighbor in the eye and give him an 

unqualified and unreserved opinion of his merits and 

demerits as seen by the public. 

4520 
If we could find the key to the situation we might 
unlock the difficulty. 

4521 

The most serviceable weapon in the hands of an 
enemy is his familiarity with our weaknesses. 

4522 
Indolence and indifference always get in the way of 
progress, causing long halts and exasperating delay. 

4523 
Masculine and feminine vanity may differ in kind, 
but there is no apparent difference in degree. 

4524 
When we meet a stranger on the lonely way we have 
to acknowledge that on the threshold of the Twentieth 
Century we are afraid of one another. 

4525 

Why should the poor and afflicted be advised to cast 
their burdens on the Lord, when the rich and the 
strong are nearer? 

4526 
The longer the lesson, the more difficult the applica- 
tion. 

4527 
Domestic patchwork is scrutinized with curiosity, 
but the exhibit should never be spread before the 
public. 

4528 
Be dignified before a king, but not less so before a 
slave. 



487 



4529 

XNDIVIDUALS in a house may be likened to 
its doors. No two hinge upon the same support ; 
each swings from an upright of its own, serving 
an independent purpose. 

4530 

Whatever an enemy recommends, search for flaws. 

4531 
A terrible day may be prophesied should fanaticism 
dethrone reason. 

4532 
Science precludes the belief in the resurrection of the 
physical body, but is agnostic concerning the soul. 

4533 
One who confers a lasting favor on mankind has done 
more than the ninety and nine who confer temporary 
ones. 

4534 
Late hours produce bodily fatigue, but when the sun 
is strong in the East exercise thy mentality. 

4535 

How restful the pillow of peace. 

4536 
The world is the great encyclopedia of humanity, and 
all good and all evil is writ within its unnumbered 
volumes. 

4537 
The vulnerable places in the character must be 
constantly strengthened lest the citadel of life be 
destroyed. 

4538 
Be faithful in the minute affairs of life and you will 
be trusted with the great. 

4539 
A lay so sweet that all who hear must pause : the song 
of content voiced by the home choir. 



488 



4540 

nALLELUJAHS and groans are mingled on earth, 
but in the hereafter groanings must cease and 
hallelujahs ring in the clear atmosphere of a 
more perfect understanding and realization of life, 
its requirements, its possession, its glories and its 
freedom. 

4541 

Be cautious when walking on the edge of the crater of 
intemperance, as the footing is always insecure and 
the crust deceiving. 

4542 
When the analytical mind separates ethics and 
religion and weighs each, it realizes how much the 
world owes the former. 

4543 
Fearless thought is the angel that opens the prison- 
doors of superstition. 

4544 

When silent night ascends her throne our eyelids are 
closed by her command, and when the dawn is come 
she kisses them to wakefulness and gives her scepter 
to the kingly sun. 

4545 
So still is the house of conscience that the slightest 
rap at the door is heard within. 

4546 
Futile the effort to stay the current of wrath when all 
the floodgates of indignation have been opened. 

4547 
Riches are transient: the shadow we keep; the 
substance we lose. 

4548 
When the heart is stone the life is Godless. 

4549 
To get a fair share of worldly goods one must decide 
early what is most desired and be ready to seize 
opportunity when it is offered. 



489 



4550 
^^i/HE keen delight with which the hunter tracks 
^ J the timid deer through the forest that he may 
^^^ slay it within its own preserves is an indication 
of the cruelty in man and his pleasure in destroying 
the defenseless when not endangering his own life. 

4551 

Never lie where you fall unless it is the best place on 
earth. 

4552 

Every one welcomes a hero, but a coward should 
never return. 

4553 

Those who have given but a moment to psychical 
study speak with less reserve than the student 
who has long toiled. 

4554 

The Supreme Lawgiver of the universe writes in secret 
and communicates sparingly to those who most per- 
sistently importune for knowledge. 

4555 

Indolent men call upon God to come down to them 
because it is too hard work to climb up to Him. 




490 



BOOK TWENTY 




4556 

Commerce makes aliens brothers. 
Its fraternal strength is greater 
than religion. It holds Nations, 
and cements the fractures of wars. 
As years pass we shall more and 
more rely upon it to suppress dis- 
honesty. We shall look to sound 
and well-ordered business to pre- 
vent the shortsighted from springing at each other's 
throats for a difference of opinion concerning the 
known things of this world and the unknown of the 
next. 

4557 
Old Father Time is a swift runner and those who lag 
he cuts down with his keen blade in the early hours ; 
the strongest are weary at the twilight and ready to 
sleep when the night comes. 

4558 
Precept and practise should travel together, but 
practise loiters and frequently falls into bad company. 

4559 
The roaring metropolis is the lion that devours the 
poetic soul. 

4560 
Dreams are the joumeyings of the soul, and the 
remembrance the tiny fragments gathered by the way. 

4561 
The more simple the mind the more pleasing illusion. 

4562 

Why great riches so often fall at the feet of the 
unworthy is perplexing to philosophers. 

4563 
In response to the questions that the soul asks of the 
invisible, there comes response not after the common 
manner, but in a way that sets the whole intellectual 
and spiritual machinery in motion. 



493 



4564 

XT is a long distance to the sun, but he comes to 
the lowliest to gladden. And this is the sugges- 
tion of the willingness of the spiritual light to 
enter whenever the soul is not closed to its purifying 
and warming rays. 

4565 
Though a seeming paradox, a ripe old mind is a green 
old age. 

4566 
Whenever memory fancies, it frolics with the hob- 
goblins of the past until the present is alarmed. 

4567 
Believe thou wert created for a noble purpose and so 
believing do thou no ignoble deed. 

4568 

Every hour the young and innocent of earth are 
called to spirit land, the great playground for all 
nativities. 

4569 
So slippery is the descent of vice that most who 
attempt it lose footing and are dashed to death. 

4570 
Forgetful of all but self, man becomes a hideous 
caricature of what Nature intended. 

4571 
A bond that is closer than kinship is consanguinity of 
thought. 

4572 
A much-abused privilege: borrowing another man's 
mind with which to cover thine own deficiencies. 

4573 

Choose first the book and then the binding. 

4574 

The face of death is less terrible than the face of 
famine. 



494 



4575 
iy^HETHER it be near or far to a given point it 
riy were incredible that every inch of the way be 
^^^ worthy minute description. Therefore, weight 
not conversation with too many details if you would 
be interesting. 

4576 
Let thy countenance be adorned with peace and thy 
mind with treasures rare. Then riches will not harm 
nor poverty destroy. 

4577 
Thou canst be of the earth heavenly-minded, but not 
of heaven earthly-minded. 

4578 
Diligence is necessary to success : the early bird does 
not find his breakfast without looking for it. 

4579 
A boaster should write his own autobiography, lest his 
biographer be of weak imagination and abide by facts. 

4580 

It is more difficult to please the wicked than the good. 

4581 
There is everywhere evidence that mortals learn 
life's lesson quickest when they are taught by the 
schoolmaster of experience, who spares neither the 
pupil nor the rod. 

4582 
When ventilating the mind have a care lest everything 
blow out of the opening. 

4583 

Be exact in all your dealings, that you be not humili- 
ated by obligation nor humiliate others by obligation 
to yourself. 

4584 
Let us not be guilty of consigning our neighbors to 
perdition because they prefer to see God through their 
own eyes instead of ours. 



495 




4585 
|[OME day the awakened conscience will tell 
man that he was not evolved for the gratifica- 
tion of lust and selfishness, but to attain a state 
of intellectual and moral manhood that need not be 
ashamed to meet perfection. 

4586 
There are hours when memory is very beautiful, and 
there are hours when she is hideous ; she smiles and 
she frowns, not as we will but as she wills, and mocks 
our efforts to control. 

4587 
Avoid haste by beginning early. 

4588 
Enduring all things for Love is a strong test of its 
strength and quality. 

4589 

There is no one on earth who has ever seen a miracle, 
and there is no wise man who ever expects to see 
natural law defied, and for this reason modems wonder 
if the ancients were always truthful. 

4590 
How hard the bed of crime ! 

4591 
It is more dangerous in the end to listen to the rabble 
than to offend them. 

4592 
If the mountain before thee be high, rejoice, for the 
view from the summit will be far-reaching. 

4593 
Ready-made and conventional phrases are weak 
substitutes for spontaneous utterance. 

4594 

A man who would question the fitness of theology to 
rule the world would be a man no longer did theology 
reign. 



496 



4595 

XT is my belief that God will never pass final 
judgment on man nor deem him too guilty to 
reform, but that reformation must at some time 
and some place begin and continue throughout 
eternity. 

4596 
There is nowhere so much misery as in the mind. 

4597 

The moment we see ourselves as our enemy sees us, 
our vanity is turned to shame and gall ; but when we 
behold ourselves through friendship's eye, our pride 
remaineth to sustain. 

4598 

The word ** universe " is simple to write and to speak, 
but impossible to define. 

4599 

Some men defend their money with greater zeal than 
their character, and in some instances it would seem 
to be of greater value. 

4600 

He who harnesses an honest conviction with Mrs. 
Grundy's mare, will not have an easy-driving team. 

4601 

The healing of the nation lies in the healing of the 
individual. 

4602 

If thou art puffed up with conceit thou art a windbag, 
to be punctured by the fun-makers. 

4603 

To apologize to one's self for one's shortcomings is to 
make repetition probable. 

4604 
The highest pinnacle on the temple of fame may not 
give thee a glimpse of heaven. If thou art living, it may 
increase thy vanity ; if not, thy kin may boast but 
never strive. 



497 



4605 

^^JO acquire a perfect knowledge of life man must 
l^) acquire a perfect understanding of the laws of 
^^^ the universe, which in his present development 
he is unable to do, but by the constant striving he 
will gradually evolve more and more of the divine 
which is involved within himself, and in the far ages 
will occupy an exalted plane in the spheres of intel- 
ligence. 

4606 

Look under the polish for roughness. 

4607 
In a line with God stands perfection, toward which 
man is crawling so slowly that to his generation 
he appeareth stationary. 

4608 

Of all great books the greatest is the one that doeth 
the reader the most good, and of this each reader must 
judge. 

4609 

To burden the mind with promises is to burden the 
mind with debt. 

4610 * 

What is there so bewildering as fashion, and what 
more unprofitable to both the eye and the brain of 
one who adores art and abhors a vain display ? 

4611 

The little that the world knows of us makes us not 
ashamed to go forth and smile or frown as inclined, 
because secretiveness moves us to cover our sins. 

4612 

Consider the life of the wild flower : be its friend, for 
the pleasure it so freely gives without cultivation ; 
and not an enemy, because unprotected. 

4613 

I wot there is more love in the heart of thy dog than 
in the heart of a miser. 



498 



4614 
^v^HEN thou meetest one with the face of despair 
r I y or the shadow of crime, extend thy best thoughts 
^^^ and strongest resolutions to assist the afflicted 
one across the dark valley of misery. For as sure as 
thou wouldst help, thou must take the wavering 
mind onto a higher plane where the rays of hope are 
long and the nights of despair short. 

4615 
Do the dead rejoice in Memorial Day? Who can 
answer — but all attest the blessing the day brings to 
the living when love alone is the prompter. 

4616 

A very rich man is a bondservant ; a very rich woman 
a searcher for ease. Verily ^reat wealth is torture and 
the tortured are seldom happy or content. 

,4617 
Penuriousness is a near relative of selfishness. 

4618 

The most extravagant praise is as nothing without 
th^ approbation of thine own interior conscience. 

4619 

The political knave corrupts the political fool. 

4620 

Whether I be great or small in public estimation, I 
know that I must appear needful in the estimation 
of the Ruler of worlds, else I wer@ not. 

4621 

Chain me to the rocks of superstition and I can only 
die. Chain me not at all if thou wouldst have me grow 
as the Lord God intended — straight, upright and far- 
reaching. 

4622 

The least scar made by love is sorer than a deep gash 
made by indifference. 



499 



4623 
^^^HE most encouraging sign of the spiritual evo- 
^ J lution of man is the loss of religious fear and 
^^^ the increasing thought that conduct more than 
belief makes him acceptable to the heavenly world 
and his calling and election sure. 

4624 
A man may be detestable in the eyes of strangers 
when only amusing to his friends. The latter alone 
look through the lens of affection. 

4625 
The contemplation of whirling worlds held in their 
orbit should make man most guarded in speech con- 
cerning the destiny of the human race and the fate of 
a brother. 

4626 

Alas ! that honors should be bought by the unworthy 
in this fair land where they should be bestowed grate- 
fully upon the worthy ! 

4627 

The plainness of truth oft makes it scorned. 

4628 

Consider yourself today on the eternal highway. 

^ 4629 

Be not persuaded that birth begins and death ends 
life. Such thinking curtails design and whittles hope 
to the vanishing-point. 

4630 
Why should I moan when a tree is slain or sigh when 
a flower is crushed, if they be not my kin and a part 
of the one life ? 

4631 

The reward for well-doing is instantaneous, inasmuch 
as it is a matter of the soul. 

4632 

If I am kind I shall grow better. 



500 



4633 
iw^HEN the mind and the body are aweary go to 
\gj thy Mother Nature, get close to her heart, 
^^^ pillow thy aching head upon her restful breast, 
and sleep with the breath of health over thee — and 
thou wilt waken with youth upon thy countenance. 

4634 
So beauteous is life that I sing ; so terrible is life that 
I weep ; but were my vision stronger I would perceive 
more of the cause and weep less. 

4635 
Time soothes a deep heart- wound, but whether it ever 
heals I doubt. 

4636 

The meaning of life is the riddle that has not been 
guessed. 

4637 
The blessings of life are many and so are the curses, 
but as we lack discrimination we frequently confound 
them. 

4638 
Thousands live unhonored and die unknown, but who 
dare say they lived in vain? 

4639 
Inasmuch as you can, carry your own burdens and 
so fulfil the law of justice. 

4640 
A magnificent century never yet eclipsed in the 
history of man but yet to be eclipsed. 

4641 

What need has one for gold unless one spend it? But 
to squander it means abasement, and to hoard it 
means misery. 

4642 
So shape your life that you may not be ashamed of 
your work. 



501 



4643 
^^i^HOUGHT is the substance wherewith the mind 
C) is clothed. The raiment is coarse or fine accord- 
^^■^ ing to taste and desire. The tailoring is done by 
ourselves — and what odd garments we fashion ! No two 
are alike and not one is perfect. 

4644 

The pearly gate of Heaven is an easy conscience. 

4645 

Beauty smiles and ugliness frowns. One is man's 
friend, the other his enemy. One is art, and the other 
its antithesis. 

4646 

There are those in the heart of the wilderness who are 
not more lonely than the crowded man who plots 
and schemes to gather his neighbor's shekels. 

4647 
If thou hast a friend test him not too far with gifts 
nor heap him with obligation. 

4648 

Music that is heard with the mental ear quickens 
the soul. 

4649 

Bestow thy love upon all, but concentrate it upon but 
few. 

4650 

Great wealth and dishonesty dwell together, and so 
do poverty and dishonesty hobnob. It is only the 
honest man that is respectable. 

4651 

If I be fair in my dealings with all men, I shall not 
merit their contempt nor shall I fear to be judged. 

4652 

Selfishness incites men to struggle for power ; unsel- 
fishness makes men loath to have it lest they become 
oppressors. 



502 



4653 
iw^HOSOEVER asketh receiveth fully of spiritual 
ri 1 blessings, but for temporal things there is a 
^^^ price, without which price they would scarce 
be valued, and the inability of the angels to charge 
for their instruction makes them undervalued as 
teachers. 

4654 
The quality of our raiment has naught to do with 
mind or heart. Yet it is given first place in worldly 
marts. 

4655 

Sweeten each day with a line from the poets. 

4656 

If we had eyes we should say that God loves us alike 
and treats us alike, but being blind we say one is 
blest and another is accursed. We contemplate the 
start and not the finish. 

4657 
The glory of life is its possibilities. 

4658 
Fragments of time are the whole of eternity. Their 
piecing is our privilege. 

4659 
I pray that I may never become too old for criticism. 

4660 
Boast not your own greatness. The world will do that 
if you deserve mention. 

4661 
Verily when a man becomes surety he submits his 
neck to the yoke and becomes his neighbor's ox. 

4662 

When enthusiasm goes to sleep do not try to do any- 
thing until it wakens. 

4663 

Everywhere in Nature is seen law, but nowhere 
miracle. 



503 



4664 

Q CONFLAGRATION of heretics was once the 
parson's fearful sermon, and it provoked so 
much antagonism that it set the whole world to 
asking why one soul was in greater danger of fire than 
another, and as yet no reason has been adduced to 
cause the just alarm. 

4665 

The last chapter of Revelations will never be written. 

4666 

Never since the dawn of Genesis has Eve been wiser 
than she is today. 

4667 
How dear the thought that the spirit of thy loved ones 
oft lingers to console. 

4668 
Non-conformity to established and popular religions 
makes thee a marked man ; if thou differ thou must 
expect to be hit by ugly missies. 

4669 
Hold thy peace; against that, nothing can war 
eternally. 

4670 
If thou couldst tell me whence thought, thou couldst 
tell me of God. 

4671 
To follow in the footsteps of a good man is well ; but 
to tread a new path will make thee stronger. 

4672 
Frankness tends to honesty; secretiveness to dis- 
honesty. 

4673 
The glare of fashionable religion frightens away the 
spirit. 

4674 
The thirst for understanding is never quenched ; yet 
the more one drinks of the elixir the more is one 
satisfied. 



504 




4675 
WHALE is a very large fish, and Jonah may 
have been a very small man ; but to put one 
within the other makes a story so large that 
intelligence turns with astonishment when the high 
priest approaches with the literal record. 

4676 
The destiny of the future is now being determined. 

4677 

War is never needed to settle disputes, but unselfish- 
ness is. 

4678 

Love is the savior and destroyer of many. 

4679 

Be thoughtful and be kind, and thou need not worry 
about thy soul. 

4680 

The least attempt to portray art should be encouraged. 
It is the spirit seeking expression through the hand, 
and however crude, it is an uplift from the dead level 
that needs recognition. 

4681 

The trend of life seems toward individualism and the 
call of the spirit, " Come up higher." 

4682 

The rose gives me a poem, the lily a picture ; like- 
wise does a weapon of destruction image carnage, 
suffering and death. 

4683 
What e'er my fate let me be well poised in mind, that 
I hinder no one who is without my faith in ultimate 
good. 

4684 

Reading does not necessarily make a man wise. It is 
selection, concentration and purpose that strengthen 
the intellect. A man may read all his days and remain 
a pigmy. 



505 



4685 
ilf^^'^'I' glories await the human race I wot not, 
ril but that God would prefer Jew, Christian, 
^^^ Mohammedan or Agnostic seems amazing if we 
stop to consider that one must be as precious as the 
other, that religion is a matter of human education. 
The ethics that each religion has attached to its own 
peculiar doctrines vary little, and it may be reason- 
able to suppose that ethical teachings are the true 
revelation, and those who best obey moral and 
physical law and develop the noblest qualities of 
character, will be God's chosen in the day of their 
demise. 

4686 
The clamor for gold is a clamor for care. He who has 
gold has to guard it. 

4687 
Those whom we love we do not fear. Those who love 
God fear Him not. 

4688 

The soldier of today is the target of tomorrow. 

4689 
Just a little while and thou shalt not walk the earth ; 
but though thy days be few they suffice to do much 
work. There is no reward in Nature's plan for the 
indolent. 

4690 
If thou canst not add an object of beauty to thy view, 
add daily a beautiful thought to thy mind, and thou 
wilt become nobler and richer whatever thy cir- 
cumstances. 

4691 

We bow to the inevitable, not from politeness but 
from sheer inability to ignore. 

4692 
I ofttimes think that if I should picture the Father as 
He is theologically represented, throne-seated, I should 
revere less the Oversoul of the universe. 



506 



4693 
^|p=CEAVENLY bodies move in their orbits with 
11 I mathematical precision, wheeling and changing 
according to immutable law or divine intel- 
ligence, which we designate God, of whom we are wont 
to speak knowingly, but of whom we know nothing. 

4694 

We can not fly toward God. We must be content to 
creep and grow. 

4695 
The ultimate of minding one's own business exclusively 
would be total indifference to the needs of the world. 

4696 

Thou waitest in vain for love if thou dost not bestow it. 

4697 

The elements proclaim the I Am, and man feebly 
prays, *' Forget me not, for here Am I." 

4698 
If a cow should speak to you, your dignity need not 
be offended unless you are asked to moo. 

4699 

When the embers of life burn low and the frosts of 
age creep in, there is naught but love that can warm 
the heart. So be tender. 

4700 
A haven of safety from the storms of life — the realm of 
Reason. 

4701 
Although the kind are not invariably sane, the sane 
are invariably kind, because cruelty is an associate of 
the lopsided. 

4702 
There is not one, methinks, who would care to traverse 
the same path were one privileged to return to infancy 
and journey to the present hour. In each life there 
are frightful mistakes. 



507 



4703 
^W^HEN the mind is running leisurely along in 
\Wy commonplace ruts, it is easier traveling than 
^^^ when it turns into unfrequented roads ; but 
there is compensation for rough riding in the stillness 
and freshness of the surroundings, and the magnificent 
vistas that open at every turning make one to exclaim, 
'' I live." 

4704 
If you have no friends become one. 

4705 
We love ourselves most because we are made selfish 
enough for our own preservation ; but it is a despicable 
trait when we have an excess and makes us devils. 

4706 
A breath of Nature giveth man a breath of God. 

4707 
It is unfortunate to fly off the handle, because of one's 
inability to fly on again. 

4708 
As you advance in years keep your mental lamp 
trimmed that the flame die not. 

4709 
When shall we learn that we can not oppress another 
except we bind ourselves ? 

4710 
I know not what the Devil is, but I opine it is the 
opposite of good rather than a deposed angel. 

4711 
Young feet trample parents' hearts, and grown feet 
trample children's hearts ; but it seemeth that if the 
parent reformed, the child might copy. 

4712 
What is our life ? It appeareth a groping for power, 
but me thinks it should be the quest of wisdom. 



508 



4713 

GOMING is the time when all men will desire a 
knowledge of truth above all else ; this state 
may not be reached upon earth, but in the 
upper worlds ; in the ages before them must be out- 
grown the fallacies of the lower ; the evolution of the 
mind demands this. 

4714 
Be a cupbearer if need be to bring thyself into the 
presence of the mighty, that thou mayest learn of their 
ways and improve thy wits. 

4715 
Chastity is a pearl of great value. Wear it, gentle maid, 
and thou art adorned before God and man. 

4716 

When the feet are weary and the heart is sore, an 
exchange of worlds is welcomed. 

4717 
The secret of life lies within the bosom of the universe 
where we are nourished into individuality. We yet 
know not our origin, further than our parents who 
teach us to lisp. 

4718 
When coarseness is preferred to refinement then will 
the stalk be admired more than the flower. 

4719 
Running into danger needlessly is a bout with death 
and is oftener the occupation of the foolish and 
unbalanced than the sane. 

4720 
Away from the throng, man touches God. Within ^he 
throng man touches man ; but the physical contact 
is no less incumbent than the spiritual. 

4721 
Fall into line and travel toward light, regardless of 
creed or ism. 



509 



4722 

DO locksmith, however skilled, can make a 
mechanical device that will unlock the door 
of understanding, which has to be pried open by 
degrees with patient labor by whomsoever would 
gain knowledge of the interior chambers. 

4723 
Holy wars have been horrible wars, and the misnomer 
perished centuries ago when men thought God a 
swordbearer and listened to the quibbling of self- 
seekers. 

4724 
If men visualized more it seemeth that the field of 
grain in contrast with the field of battle would present 
a lovelier and holier picture of what God would have 
the earth do for man. 

4725 
Death crowds the heels of dissipation. Life runneth 
beside moderation. 

4726 
Why should a man be humble ? Why should a man be 
arrogant? Why should he not be proud that he is 
living and gentle toward all ? 

4727 
Hie thee to the forest when thy spirit is aweary of 
noise and strife, and get thee hence when therein 
enters loneliness. Thou art not safe and sane when 
thou art prodded by either extreme. 

4728 
To think wrongly may lead to catastrophe, though 
the thinker be a saint and prayerful. It is intelligence 
that saveth from destruction. 

4729 
Whether we should drop our pride and permit our- 
selves to be assisted, or whether we should carry it 
and struggle on is a mooted question. Pride may be a 
burden, but it is the savior of many. 



510 



4730 

^w^ERE it not for the sages of the past, fainter 
\§J would be the hope for the future of man, but 
^^^ what has been said can be repeated ad infinitum 
and the people uplifted and harmonized by the 
vibration of the strings that have made poets sing 
and philosophers chant. 

4731 
Whenever I meet a man I long to say, ** Thou art a god 
and speak the truth." Alas, that I must be dumb ! 

4732 
When you know right from wrong, why not do right 
and further God's plan of progress? 

4733 
The Hottentot is as happy as the Parisian. This 
should argue that happiness is the viewpoint. 

4734 
*' Give ear to instruction," saith the ancient. *' Even 
so," saith the modern. When thou art filled begin to 
think and probe to thy full capacity into the mystery 
of life. 

4735 
If the beautiful word Peace were repeated on the 
prayer-wheel of daily life, there would be little inclina- 
tion to slaughter and maim our brothers. 

4736 
Go to a friend for counsel, but consult your con- 
science concerning your duty. 

4737 
Neither uproot nor cultivate imagination. Let it 
alone to grow like a forest tree in wind and rain, in 
shade and sun. 

4738 
Man is, and that is about all we know of him. His 
body we behold, but the spirit which animates it is 
veiled in mystery, its past and its future conjecture. 



511 



4739 

g RECLUSE is not thereby a poet, though a poet 
is inclined to be a recluse, for he will tell you that 
the rhythm of the spheres does not so readily im- 
press his phonographic brain when in worldly company 
as when alone with the muses, who approach with 
accents so soothing that to be in the inspired presence 
is an ever-present longing. 

4740 
To temporize with evil is to commit it in thought. 

4741 
The habitual borrower is the bane of society, for he 
hath no pride, neither is he fair. 

4742 
Would that the world's inhabitants were all polite ! 
Politeness would relieve the courts of half their work. 
Rudeness is a curse to all who indulge in it wittingly 
or otherwise. 

4743 

Follow a rogue too closely and he overshadows you. 

4744 

Maybe in the future all men will learn that to be 
useful one must be honest. Oh, haste the day when 
there shall be no place on earth for a cheat and to live 
he must reform ! 

4745 
The fruit of a thought: a poison if evil; a food if 
righteous. 

4746 
Human swine often appear in other clothing and the 
people are deceived by rich apparel and affected 
language. 

4747 
Every one believing in a personal God draws one's own 
picture of Him, which were they hung in a gallery 
would cause shocking irreverence and some amuse- 
ment — they would so resemble themselves. 



512 



4748 

y^^VERYWHERE we go we see a train of evils 
l^j^ propelled by public indifference moving swiftly 
^■"^ along and crushing some unfortunate brother 
or sister with every revolution of the wheels. When 
some reformer attempts to minimize the danger by 
legislation, there ascends a protest from the unre- 
generate against interfering with the rights of men to 
kill each other after their own manner without let or 
hindrance. 

4749 
Make few promises ; break none, for thy word is 
thyself. 

4750 
Moonshine for lovers ; sunshine for workers. 

4751 
Thoroughness does not necessarily mean a heavy 
hand. Discrimination and a light touch may give 
better results. 

4752 
A pilot in a strange harbor : an education for a child. 

4753 

Hold thy venom in thine own mouth. Thou art not a 
snake to poison with fangs. 

4754 
To escape reproach makes a coward a liar. 

4755 
Amazing results come from diligence, honesty and 
sobriety and a determination to rule thy spirit. 

4756 

To get acquainted with sin we barter our very souls. 

4757 
Wings have I none, but I have a mind that flies afar 
and a heart that leaps like a roe ; therefore am I 
equipped for gaining some knowledge beyond the 
limit of mine eyes. 



513 



4758 

HINGER long and lovingly with the living form, 
but forsake the dead form when it is laid in the 
earth. Seek not to find the living with the mold, 
but if thou wouldst commune, look thou to the beyond 
for friendly recognition. 

4759 
Methinks village life is more advantageous to the 
young than the adult, inasmuch as it affords more 
room to breathe than to labor. 

4760 
Employment is as necessary to right thinking as right 
thinking is to employment. One is the need of the 
other. To divorce them means death to progress. 

4761 
The breath of God is still warm, upon the earth. 

4762 
Better a night of prayer than a night of revelry ; a 
day of work than a day of idleness; a thought of 
peace than a thought of war : one will make thee 
better, the other will make thee worse. 

4763 
Somewhere in the world of thought there must be 
waiting momentous ideas for future minds to seize 
and present. 

4764 
The wings of Fate flap in the face and eyes of him 
who runs counter to the signposts set by sobriety. 

4765 
Pity the morally depraved. There is nothing but 
misery for such as go wrong. 

4766 
Blunt speech frequently passes for sincerity, but 
there is no reason why a cultured voice should not 
hold and convey every virtue. Alas, that any voice is 
clever acting ! 



514 



m 



4767 
[ANY ways have been suggested to prevent the 
rich from growing richer and the poor from 
growing poorer, but there is only one way 
known whereby this may be accomplished, and that 
is by eliminating selfishness from the human heart; 
but as that will take time we must not look for a 
radical change in a twinkling, nor should the poor 
expect the rich to grow faster in that direction than 
themselves. 

4768 
There is no more joy in arriving than in striving. 

4769 
In the throes of evolution is man from birth to death. 

4770 
If thou findest an idea it is thine to amplify, and like 
the loaves and fishes it can be used to feed the multi- 
tude and there be basketfuls left. 

4771 
In time science will set religions right. They are 
growing better with much discussion and modern 
knowledge. 

4772 
Reason civilizes. Prejudice brutalizes. Reason is man's 
friend, prejudice his enemy. 

4773 
Fling to a dog a bone, but to a man an idea. 

4774 
The highlands of life — the upper regions of thought — 
the multitude does not reach. Individuals do. One 
climbs alone ; the masses move slowly, but with an 
upward trend. 

4775 
All of earth are kin, although we are ashamed to 
acknowledge it. But when disaster befalls we are made 
to realize it as we tremble in our helplessness. 



515 



4776 
^F^iJHE best picture of the beyond is the one that is 
\} the most beautiful, and the worst that which 
^^■^ is the most painful ; then shall it not come to 
pass that he who takes the best view will become 
better than he who holds to the worst if the contem- 
plation of the beautiful is ever more ennobling than 
the continuous dwelling upon cruelty? 

4777 
Immortality means evolution throughout eternity. 

4778 
Humility is a virtue or a weakness according to the 
circumstances. 

4779 
Barabbas has been more popular than he will be when 
the people adjust their political goggles to their dust- 
filled eyes so they can see the difference between a 
savior and a thief. 

4780 
The sunny hours wasted by thee, O woman, at card- 
playing is deplorable. The day was given ifor useful 
labor. The reaper will find thy task incomplete, and 
shame and confusion will be thine. 

4781 

Success means a thousand things to a thousand men. 

4782 
Occupation is a leveler of men. We prate to the 
contrary, but observation confirms. 

4783 

Music is expression. Its great composers are they who 
have walked beneath the surface, have ridden the 
clouds and seek to transcribe a soul's experience in 
its devious wanderings. 

4784 
Selfishness sneaks in every time we leave the door 
ajar, to spoil our generous promptings. 



516 



4785 
'^=^EAVEN is the goal of the churchman, but were 
I P the unbeUevers excluded it would be a less 
^ attractive country, and is there any reason to 
suppose that a God of love would exclude them from 
future happiness having endowed them with pene- 
trating and logical minds and placed them upon earth 
with full privilege of exercising all the faculties they 
possess ? 

4786 

Guilty ! Guilty ! Guilty ! Guilty ! Swings the pendulum 
of crime which is beyond the reach of courts to stop. 

4787 
Flowers cover our caskets and our graves. Thus we 
are loved in death. 

4788 
Lamentation — of what avail? It were meant for men 
to suffer to teach them compassion. 

4789 

The final chapter of a life may never be written. 
Immortality and eternity preclude. 

4790 
Henceforth let thy daily prayer be to progress, 
thereby preparing to cast off the obsolete and to be 
ready to garb thyself in new ideas. 

4791 
If you have a little money and a modicum of reason 
you will know that it takes longer to earn it than to 
spend it. So beware of barter. The scales should 
balance or you are cheated. 

4792 
If I should envy any it would be one who had passed 
the limitations of earth after having done a great and 
lasting work for humanity. 



517 



4793 
ii^HITHER do we go when we die, and can we 
\Mj return? Millions testify today that the second 
^^ question is simpler than the first, which must 
remain unanswered until a sixth and a seventh sense 
have been added to the useful five. 

4794 
Laughter is a lubricant. 

4795 
Civilization's call is for plows, not warships. The 
world is fed by one and starved by the other. 

4796 
Under the wings of time lies hidden the destiny of 
nations. 

4797 
Selfish thoughts line every path, darting back and 
forth the livelong day. 

4798 
Man, know thy stomach. An impolite command says 
one; a timely warning says another, and the least 
heeded say all. 

4799 
A flowing tongue and a dry heart oft lead a man to 
worldly success. 

4800 

That the ends of society more evenly balance, rude- 
ness should be met with politeness, and politeness 
should not be repulsed by rudeness. 

4801 

Failing to do a great thing for humanity, hesitate not 
to do the small kindnesses, the aggregate of which 
may be of more value than the one, both to thyself 
and the world. 

4802 

Though the populace shout when the ruler passes by, 
if he does not honor the position he will feel the irony 
if he be not brass, and himself despise. 



518 



4803 

OH, blest the hour when the soul withdraws from 
its earthly tenement, but have a care, O mortal, 
that it is not turned out against its will ; for as 
long as Nature and Nature's God are in partnership 
thou wilt suffer any infraction of law and order. 

4804 
Idleness corrodes the brain, making it almost useless 
as a thinking machine. 

4805 
The least we can do for our brothers and sisters of 
earth is to be agreeable. Alas ! that we are so thought- 
less that we needlessly wound ! 

4806 

Commonsense makes uncommon folk. 

4807 
It is misleading to give a crooked answer to a straight 
question. Silence sufficeth. 

4808 
Honesty hindereth the gathering of shekels, and 
benevolence the hoarding of them. 

4809 
Silence is not always wisdom : it is often lack of courage 
to speak the truth. 

4810 

Every life should be rounded with a measure of hand- 
work. An idle hand reveals a palsied mind. 

4811 
When one's pride exceeds one's education there will 
be progress in spite of limitations. 

4812 
Too much patience is frequently a sin. There is a place 
to speak and one's lips should not be dumb in the 
conflict of right living. 

4813 
God giveth man hope and light to make his way 
through a strange world. 



519 



4814 
^^^rtHE contentions amongst the various sects of 
C) Christendom is a sign of a new dispensation, 
^^■■^ and the angel of change is troubUng the stagnant 
pool that the factions may be healed of their many 
infirmities. 

4815 
The price of thinking is fatigue ; the result, priceless. 

4816 
When one becomes perfect one may condemn. Until 
that time be kind. 

4817 
To lead in the social whirl one must be possessed of a 
species of vanity and a willingness to be conspicuous. 

4818 

Find solace in the thought that heaven has no barred 
doors. Ye can enter and depart at will. 

4819 

Lassitude bespeaks poor work. What thou dost, do 
with energy, though it be but a trifle and naught 
depends. 

4820 
Needs are few, but nimble is desire. It spreadeth like 
a grass fire and keeps thee running. 

4821 
In every quarter of the globe spring thoughts sown 
by the Great Gardener for the sustenance of the 
bipeds therein placed. 

4822 

The devil must be whoever and whatever stands 
before the gate of progress to keep out the children 
of earth. 

4823 
War is so merciless that civilized man can not engage 
in it. There are grave wrongs everywhere, and there 
should be found strong and wise men without taint 
of selfishness to mediate. 



520 



4824 

iT|^OOLGATHERING is not considered profitable, 
ril though it sometimes proves to be; writers, 
^^^ verse-makers, inventors, philosophers and 
reformers have gone woolgathering, when thrifty 
neighbors and friends would have put them to other 
employment. 

4825 

Man's conscience is his savior ; a dull conscience is a 
weak defender. 

4826 
Most bitter hour ! To reach the end and realize that 
ye have done nothing to make the world a fairer 
dwelling-place. 

4827 

Be calm, and whatsoever trouble cometh thou canst 
easier bear. 

4828 
In thy desire to serve God thou mayest slight man 
who needs thee more. 

4829 
The will to do good and harm none is the very essence 
of religion. 

4830 
Whatsoever God and the angels have done in the past 
they are doing now. 

4831 
At a breakneck pace runs time, but a man must keep 
abreast or be engulfed. With hand and brain he must 
work. An idler hath no part in real life. Idleness is a 
disgrace. The race is swift, gird ye for it. 

4832 
Though fashion proclaims herself the daughter of 
Art, Art repudiates close relationship of so changeful 
a creature. 

4833 
Zaccheus climbed a tree, and were I to use this for a 
text I should make this point: that he who climbs 
extends his vision. 



521 



4834 
^^n/HERE are many signs by which we recognize 
^ J our closest friends. There is a silent language, 
^^^ a reaching out upon similar lines of thought 
and the imbibing of new truths that creates and 
cements friendships that years will not weaken. 

4835 
Ofttimes the hard, dry speech of true friendship cuts 
deep. 

4836 

Immortality is the hope and comfort of the present 
life. 

4837 
To be sweet-tempered is like walking in a rose-garden, 
but ill -nature is a tramp over stones and briers that 
bruise and pierce and make rough the way. 

4838 

Yet a little while and we are not here. The traveling 
ego has moved onward, not changed methinks but 
of clearer sight and more earnest purpose because 
convinced that death hath not destroyed personality 
and made of us nonentities. 

4839 
Evolution is the keynote of Nature, 

4840 
Through the patient ministrations of time, Twentieth- 
Century religion has become less a matter of belief 
and more a matter of conduct, therefore man's head 
rests more securely on his shoulders. 

4841 
At the behest of no man do that which thy innermost 
conscience dost not approve. This rule will hold thee 
above suspicion and keep thee from temptation. 

4842 
When art and work are playfellows, the rumblings of 
discontent will not be heard above the laughter. 



522 



4843 
^AN, treat thy stomach with respect. It is worthy. 
It crieth with a loud voice saying : ** I will resent 
every insult offered me to the uttermost of my 
God-given privilege. I am the companion of thy brain." 



m 



4844 
When the prejudiced historian perverts history into 
apology, unintentionally he induces to deeper research. 

4845 
A daily pause in the rush of living for the benediction 
of the spirit is both needful and refreshing. 

4846 
Sweet words that melt in the mouth may hold the 
poison of asps. 

4847 
The idle rich and the idle poor are ticketed over dif- 
ferent routes to the same destination. 

4848 
If a catapult of harsh words is turned on, you slip into 
the invisible protection of silence. 

4849 

Children are choked by the very air they breathe. So 
full is it of man-made laws that initiative is suppressed 
and imitation encouraged. 

4850 
The fragrance of a flower oft draws the curtain of the 
past. 

4851 
Call me not irreverent if I say that God is growth. 

4852 
Science has brightened the physical world and it 
must also light the spiritual realm, and at length the 
head and the heart shall agree and true religion be 
scientific living, a harmonious blending of the spiritual 
and physical — then will mortals be lifted out of coarse- 
ness into fineness and the troubles of earth be few. 



523 



4853 
iw^HOSOEVER sheddeth man's blood is evermore 
riJ an outcast from peace ; his days are darkness 
and his nights are haunted ; memory flogs him 
and conscience flays, and who can tell whether or not 
this will ever end? 

4854 

Our temperamental defects are slower to correct than 
our mental deficiencies. 

4855 
If woman would speak wisely she would always 
be heard. When she shrills like a scold, repines, 
upbraids or bedraggles her robes with gossip, she 
loses charm and ranks with the weak who have no 
voice in vital things. 

4856 
The commonplace is everywhere conspicuous ; yet 
could we see under the coarse surface we might dis- 
cover qualities of mind fit to shine had environment 
been favorable. Let this thought move us to charity. 

4857 
Gold is a poor exchange for character; and to 
part with principle for a piece of silver marks a 
rogue ; the time is coming when the traffic in 
votes will merit the scorn of all men and women of 
common decency ; even little children will point with 
shame to the politician who betrays the people to boost 
himself. 

4858 

Happiness abides not long at a time, but comes and 
goes like the sun on April days. 

4859 
If ye could read the starved soul of Poverty's beauty- 
loving child, thy Yuletide gift would sometimai^be 
a flower or even a jewel. Hands and feet might be 
bare and cold, but the happy little heart would be 
warmed. In the joy of possessing that which the world 
calls superfluous, rags would be forgotten and the 
least of these would glimpse heaven. 



524 



e 



4860 

fOD save us from our quarrels great and small 
and teach us to settle our differences without 
tearing, the flesh like beasts with tooth and 
claw. Until that time we are not above paint and 
feathers, and only by stretching the imagination can 
we assume to be. 

4861 
Be not persuaded that thou canst escape the 
consequences of thy every act against spiritual 
and physical law. No jury of men has power to 
pardon, and the Great Lawgiver can not be wheedled 
with many petitions. The breaking of a law is a 
personal loss. 

4862 
Repression is a kind of fear. 

4863 
That each one born into the world finds a way out 
no one doubts. Therefore some declare that accidents 
are not and that whatever fate one meets is one's 
own manner of exit. Truly we know not the why of 
daily happenings, any more than we can trace the 
Alpha and Omega of souls. 

4864 
As a little child I craved love, and as I grew to maturity 
it became more and more the staff of life upon which 
my soul was nourished. Oh ! I pity the struggling 
one who is denied this gift of heaven and starves of 
loneliness ! Of such there be many whose voice is never 
heard in the roar of money. 

4865 
The lure of exciting pleasures results in personal defeat. 
True and lasting pleasure comes from earnest effort 
to^tiplift the spirit above the commonness of vul- 
garity and brutality. Many in their plunge after 
novelty forget decency. Their rudeness is brazen ; 
though their garments be of spun silk their mental 
and moral nakedness can not be concealed. 



525 



4866 
iir^HEN the Angel of Death calls on thy neighbor 
r 1 1 believe not that the message is not welcome to 
^^^ the Spirit that receives it. Nothing is by chance, 
and whatever is, is ordered even to the hour of snuff- 
ing out the candle. 

4867 
To read another through one's own mind is logical 
but ofttimes most unfair, for the reason that to follow 
a wrong premise carries to a false conclusion and 
no one is quite sure of their starting-point when 
analyzing friend or stranger. 

4868 

Human nature varies little the world over. This may 
be explanatory of our slowness in learning it. As cen- 
turies pass we make tardy advancement, are ever 
committing the same blunders, and showing the same 
foibles and virtues that other peoples have paraded. 

4869 
Our neighbors of the animal world are every whit 
as much in God's hand as we, and who shall say they 
are less precious to their Maker? Do they not obey 
the law and behave themselves better than men? 
Are they not more temperate and less given to deceit? 
Let us think upon these things seriously, and mercy 
shall stay our blows and make us more considerate 
of their needs. 

4870 
It is an error to affirm that woman was made 
for man unless we also affirm that man was made 
for woman. *' Male and female made He them." 
One is as important as the other, neither is complete 
alone. Nature's plan would be thwarted. So we should 
consider them together and believe that they arrived 
at the same time. 

4871 
I can not conceive of an hour so precious as this. I live 
and sing in the Now. 



526 



4872 

X VERILY believe that if rum were made no more, 
crime and poverty would decrease, eventually 
disappearing to the vanishing-point. Yet I 
am neither an apostle of prohibition nor an advocate 
of the canteen, but an observer of the bitter fruits. 
It has laid low the flower of the Nation and made fire- 
brands of the ignorant. It has done so much more evil 
than good that it might well be classed with the things 
called infernal. 

4873 
Each day of thy life do some little thing for another — 
a gentle word, a smile, a kindly act. These are treasures 
laid up in heaven and your soul grows rich. A frown, 
a disposition to oppress, a stinging tongue and selfish 
tendencies will strip you of most that enters into the 
making of angels. 

4874 
Lift up your heads on high and sing hosannas, all ye 
who feel depressed. It will charge the atmosphere with 
optimism and make for better conditions. To sulk and 
to wear a long visage invites annoyance as truly as 
singing disperses it. 

4875 
The beginning of wisdom is the love of truth. In com- 
parison, other virtues there are none. It requires no 
strong lens to perceive it. It is simple and homely 
and has roots in the soul until torn out by lying 
sophistry. 

4876 
Could all men and women be housed, fed and clothed 
without personal effort, would they all be happy? 
No happier than they are working for easier condi- 
tions. There is no more happiness at the end than 
along the way. 

4877 
Dost thou perceive imperfection moving steadily 
toward perfection, thou art an optimist and dwellest 
in faith, hope and charity. 



527 



4878 

OHE foundation of character was laid with the 
world, and little by little each man builds his 
individual structure upon it : strong, weak, 
flimsy, ornate, enduring, crumbling, symmetrical, 
out of plumb, beautiful or ugly ; a lasting credit or a 
lasting disgrace ; a structure he can not hide nor tear 
down. There it stands with his name graven on the 
plate, to be admired or condemned. 

4879 
While we are traveling on the globe let us not resent 
our neighbor's interest in our affairs. To mind one's 
own business is creditable, but to take no interest 
in those about us is unpardonable selfishness. 

4880 
Direct questions are not invariably impertinent. The 
prompting motive makes them so or not so. Therefore 
let your answers be soft and free from sting, lest 
you wound a kindly soul whose thought is not stimu- 
lated by curiosity. 

4881 
So far as we know, one man is as near God as 
another; but the bad man misses most everything 
that makes for happiness and piles up misery for 
himself with every wrong act, making his feet lead and 
his path dangerous. 

4882 
When buying gewgaws remember this : there is enough 
of beauty awaiting small silver which does not degrade 
and outrage taste. Better nothing and an artistic 
mental picture than tawdry display and a sightless 
mind. 

4883 
Of all the hobbies that man likes to ride is a 
gastronomic race with Dame Nature. He is possessed 
of the notion that he can win. He never has. The 
Dame is invincible, outriding the strongest and 
swiftest down to defeat. 



528 



4884 
^^^i^HE monkey-shines of officeseekers would be 
^ J ludicrous were they not mischievous. They 
^^^ caper and prance for votes. They blow horns 
and strut for applause. They play upon the personal 
pronoun and sing roundelays in self-praise. Their 
vanity exceeds their ability, their greed their honesty. 
Oh, for a Washington or a Lincoln who sought first 
the public weal and forgot self-glory ! 

4885 
If the psychic life is the blossom of the physical life, 
alas, that there be one barren stalk ! 

4886 
It seemeth to me that a kind heart, a clean mind and 
a helpful hand are the essentials of religion, and that 
theological limits and beliefs are scarce worth mention 
in this Twentieth Century. 

4887 
No man remains in bondage to another if he have 
courage to free himself. Master and slave are no 
more. White, yellow and black are equal before the 
law ; but social status is marked by a pigment that 
does not change. 

4888 
God only knows how they suffer who taste the 
gall and wormwood of murder. Let God in His 
mercy smite them from earth, and not ye who 
know not but that ye commit the same awful deed. 
Let us boast not while the State takes away the breath 
of life that God has breathed into man's nostrils. 

4889 
Searching for ideas is charming pastime ; gathering 
words to clothe them agreeable labor ; putting them 
into book form a timid task ; and to let them fly 
beyond recall a sensation that deadens all conceit. 
Their imperfections return to torture the mind, and 
one sighs that one's thoughts are so shabbily arrayed. 



529 



4890 
iir^OULD there were more humorists to turn sighs 
\g/ to laughter. Every hour should be broken with 
^"^^ a smile. A full day of solemnity depresses as 
does a dismal cloud that veils the jolly sun. Laugh, 
ye who desire health ! Laugh, ye who would do good 
work ! Laughter was given to man alone. It raises 
him above the beast. 

4891 
Repose is not idleness, but harmony. We observe it in 
them who toil with their hands, and in them who 
toil with their heads ; but in them who toil not there 
is always discord and a restlessness that betrays lack 
of polite deportment. 

4892 

No one can count the cost of a bad act. It reaches 
to the ends of civilization and is a leaden weight 
on the body politic. Let this be a text for 
Sunday sermons, that more be impressed with a sense 
of individual responsibility. 

4893 

Art recognizes no class. Its apostles are born amongst 
high and low, midst splendor and squalor. Many 
perish at the threshold of life, some are slain by 
indolence, but a few live to bless mankind and raise 
them God ward by placing before them objects of 
lasting beauty, 

4894 
Love is ever a sweet theme, but the fires of passion 
die soon. The writer who dips his pen in red-hot flame, 
depicting scenes that should never be unveiled, flaunt- 
ing coarse men and brazen women through pages of 
type, deserves the oblivion that a later generation 
will accord. 

4895 

A cheat, be he rich or be he poor, is contemptible in 
his own estimation ; albeit he may swell and puff in 
public and demand the admiration he can not bestow 
upon himself because he knows himself as he is. 



530 



4896 

^T^HY should men wrangle over sacred books? 
vl^ Why should they not cull from each and every 
^*^^ bible something to make lighter the way to the 

Father's Mansion, whither all are traveling who enter 
the planet life ? All bibles contain the written thoughts 
of men — God-inspired, man-inspired — and it is not 
for any cult to contend that one hath all of truth. Let 
discrimination serve and save us from contention and 
unseemly boasting. 

4897 

Express joy in thy countenance, though thou art 
bruised and sorely wounded, as thou hast no right to 
spread gloom. 

4898 

Agriculture, the savior of mankind. 

4899 

An accusing conscience is an imp that mocks and 
leers when alone and makes faces when in company, 
pointing downward every time one glances heaven- 
ward. 

4900 

Open thy mind to fresh thought : this fits thee for 
today and prepares thee for tomorrow. 

4901 

Laugh ! Laughter was given thee to ease thee of 
grief. One could not endure the pain of life without it. 

4902 

If God forced the world to choose between theology 
and agriculture, we all know the choice, 

4903 

The sincere are upheld by self-respect ; but the in- 
sincere have nothing to support them but self-conceit. 

4904 

Our ideas of justice are crude, as we yet bask in 
selfishness. 



531 



4905 

eACH century bringeth a new message to man. 
The harvest of the past and the present are 
his, making him richer this hour than since the 
writing of history. 

4906 
Music to do thee most good should not always agree 
with thy mood. 

4907 
As the Cross suggCvSts suffering, it shall be replaced 
by a new symbol in a new age when Christ's life and 
not His death is glorified. 

4908 
Too much can not be said in favor of construction 
and against destruction. Let the wise repeat until 
all believe that it is better to create than to kill. 

4909 

Regret not a bitter experience if thou hast gained a 
needful chapter. 

4910 

He who spares time to defend himself against slander 
holds his days cheap. 

4911 

Much do I reveal of myself to a white page that I 
dare not speak to my neighbor. 

4912 

Place and power are right for thee only as thou 
art right for them. 

4913 
War is misdirected energy. 

4914 
If thou hast a talent, love it, for it is a slight touch 
of God upon thy brain to inspire individualism. ' 

4915 
Think in thine own generation. Read the past. Be- 
lieve in the future. 



532 



4916 

iy^HITHER? Who knoweth and who careth, if 

r I lone hath love in his heart and perceiveth God in 

^^^^ all things ? Surely if every leaf and bud is at- 

/ tended, man shall be guided safely. 

4917 
Rejoice that nothing is stationary. 

4918 
Fish for ideas. The stream of life has been well 
stocked, and if thou art patient thou art sure to net 
one. 

4919 

Love nothing more than thy reason. Though it sepa- 
ate thee from past beliefs it will unite thee to those of 
thine own age. 

4920 

The pageantry of Time ! The longest imagination 
can not depict the earliest scenes. 

4921 
A horseless carriage: another dream come true. 

4922 

The more faith and hope we weave into our daily 
life, the brighter the fabric. 

4923 

Dependence kills energy, it ruins ambition and marks 
decay. 

4924 

When the heart is young the mind is elastic and bends 
to the cares of life rather than breaks. 

4925 
Meet the world with a laugh and a song. Sighing and 
weeping are thy secrets and not to be exposed. 

4926 
The best books of the world are as gold and silver, and 
the wise thoughts of men contained therein blazing 
jewels in the crown of life. 



533 



4927 
A high ideal should make a more practical and useful 
citizen, for he who hath a vision of better things ahead 
travels toward them. 

4928 

The day we cease to think, that day we die. 

4929 

O art! To thee must man look to deliver him from 
grossness. To the ideal must he build if he would rise. 

4930 
Keep thy feet upon earth, thy head in the sky ; then 
labor may not degrade, riches destroy nor men despise. 




534 



so HERE THEN ENDETH 

THIS BOOK OF TWENTIETH-CENTURY MUSINGS 

EVOLVED IN HAPPY MOMENTS 

BY 

M. Clay Burbridge 

PENNED WITH LOVE, PROFFERED TO TIME 

AND DONE INTO A PRINTED VOLUME 

BY 

THE ROYCROFTERS 

AT THEIR SHOP 

AT 

e:ast aurora 

NEW YORK 

JUNE 

ANNO CHRISTI 

MCMXIII 




.^ 





^0^ Treatment Date: Sept. 2009 

111 Tnomson Park Drive 



